Patron Capital and Trei form €140 million JV to build Polish retail parks

Patron Capital, the pan-European institutional investor focused on property-backed investments, and Trei Real Estate, an international developer and asset holder for residential and retail real estate, have formed a new 75:25 joint venture to develop and hold retail parks in Poland under the Vendo Park brand.

The partners plan to invest approximately €140 million over the next three to five years, with an initial target of between 15 and 20 Vendo Parks in regional Polish cities. Five Vendo Parks are already confirmed to be in the development pipeline. The first of these will be located in Chorzów in the Silesian voivodeship, and it is expected to open before the end of Q4 2021. The other four towns are Otwock, Łapy, Skarżysko-Kamienna and Siedlce. Funding for the acquisition comes from Patron Capital’s recently closed Fund VI. Avison Young Poland advised Patron Capital and Trei on the transaction.

Wiktor Lesinski, Principal at Patron Capital, said: “Due to the continued strong fundamentals that underpin the Polish market and the evolving consumer preference towards convenience-driven shopping, this joint venture represents an attractive opportunity for our strategy and builds on our previous experience in Poland. We look forward to working with Trei and benefitting from its local presence, extensive network and experience with retail parks as we realise our strategy for this joint venture in the years ahead.”

Pepijn Morshuis, CEO of Trei Real Estate, said: “Entering into a joint venture with an external partner represents an important strategic step for Trei along its growth trajectory. We will soon achieve the objective of holding 50 Vendo Parks in our proprietary portfolio but see the potential for further developments in Poland. The collaborative venture with Patron will give us an opportunity to step up the pace of expanding and scaling our business. We also realised over the past years that the demand for retail parks in the smaller towns of Poland is bigger than initially assumed.”