pbb provides EUR 63 million medium-term credit facility to CBRE PFCEE for the refinancing of the “Wars Sawa Junior” retail centre in Warsaw – EuropaProperty

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank provided an investment facility of EUR 63 million to CBRE Property Fund Central and Eastern Europe (CBRE PFCEE), an investment fund focusing on retail assets in Poland and Slovakia, managed by CBRE Global Investors. CBRE PFCEE will use the proceeds for the refinancing of the well-known shopping centre “Wars Sawa Junior” in Warsaw. The transaction closed in August 2017. pbb acted as arranger and sole lender under the facility.

CBRE Global Investors are one of the leading investment managers globally, and in Europe they are the second largest non-listed retail manager with 75 shopping centres in their portfolio.

Wars Sawa Junior is prominently located in the city centre of Warsaw directly opposite the Palace of Culture. It was built at the turn of the 1960s and 70s and was the first department store to open in Warsaw, and was later converted into a shopping centre. The asset offers a gross lettable area of over 37,000 sqm in retail and office space. It is currently almost fully let to a mix of international and national tenants.

Charles Balch, Head of International Clients, UK & CEE at pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank said: “We are very pleased to support CBRE PFCEE in this Polish retail refinancing, and we are looking forward to other transactions with them, both in Poland and Slovakia. The deal underlines our continued strong interest in the CEE real estate markets, and it was a particularly interesting to be involved in a landmark building of this nature in Poland.”