Rockcastle Global Real Estate Company Limited, a global real estate business with investments in international listed property counters and direct retail property assets in Poland, advised by international real estate agency Savills, has acquired Solaris Center in Opole. The seller was Coucal and was advised by CBRE. Weil, Gotshal & Manges represented the buyer.
Solaris is an 18,000 sqm GLA shopping centre located in the historic city centre of Opole, adjacent to the Old Town and in close proximity to the main train station and Opole’s university. It is a modern third-generation shopping centre, which opened in 2009 encompassing three main retail levels and two levels of parking. The mall houses numerous international and national fashion brands, such as Alma, C&A, CCC, Euro RTV AGD, Inditex, Intersport, LPP group, New Yorker and Rossmann.
Spiro Noussis, Chief Executive Officer at Rockcastle Global Real Estate, said: “This transaction is our first acquisition of an existing retail centre in Poland and establishes our presence in the market. It is the first step towards achieving our strategic objective of building a significant retail shopping centre portfolio and operational presence in the country. Rockcastle has earmarked €750 million of equity for the purpose of both acquisitions and developments in Poland.”
Piotr Moderacki representing the investors in Coucal, commented: “The sale of this centre reflects the improving environment for retail in Poland. We are very pleased to have sold this asset to Rockcastle and wish them the very best with their plans for the future.”
Michal Ćwikliński, managing director, head of investment at Savills Poland, added: “We are very excited that we could represent Rockcastle Global Real Estate in their first existing retail property acquisition in Poland. The acquisition of Solaris Centre shows that regional shopping centres, in medium-sized cities in Poland, are attractive investment targets for investors. We expect significantly more activity from local and international buyers in the retail sector in 2015, focusing primarily on dominant shopping centres with good trading histories.”
