We are proud to announce our expansion in Poland, has entered into a conditional investment agreement to acquire at least 50.01% and up to 67.9% of the issued share capital of Griffin Premium RE.. N.V. (“GPRE”). GPRE is a pure-play Polish real estate company, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, comprising primarily high-quality office and mixed-use assets located in Warsaw and across a number of other key cities, notably Wroclaw, Lodz, Krakow and Katowice.
“As our largest investment to date and our first transaction outside of the Romanian market, this expansion into Poland, the largest market in Central and Eastern Europe, is a pivotal development in Globalworth’s strategy to establish itself as the region’s leading office investor. As previously stated, we have prioritized the Polish market as a core target for expansion due to its size, liquidity, strong fundamentals and depth of opportunities. Drawing on GPRE’s strong experience and excellent reputation in the Polish market, we will continue to grow its portfolio in Poland as we strive to become the partner of choice for the wide variety of high-quality tenants looking to expand in the region”, stated Dimitris Raptis, Deputy CEO and Chief Investment officer.
The portfolio of GPRE comprises six offices and three mixed-use (office and retail) properties. As disclosed in conjunction with GPRE’s H1-2017 report, the portfolio has a gross leasable area of 171.000 sqm, an aggregate value of €508m, annualised net operating income of EUR33.9m, occupancy of 97.6% and a weighted average lease term of 4.5 years (all as at 30 June 2017). The office space is predominantly leased to a diversified mix of blue-chip tenants, including Infosys, Hewlett-Packard, Capita, Phillips and Deutsche Bank, with leading retail tenants including LPP Group and Inditex Group. As at 30 June 2017, GPRE reported an unaudited EPRA NAV of EUR247.2m and shareholders’ equity of EUR230.5m.
“GPRE looks forward to welcoming Globalworth, one of the region’s most respected investors and accomplished landlords, as a committed long term strategic investor in our company. This strategic investment will be a defining moment in the future evolution of our business, providing GPRE with a solid basis for future growth and value creation for our shareholders. We believe that the Polish market remains very attractive and look forward to leveraging Globalworth’s experience and industry knowledge in our ambition to become the leading institutional office investor in Poland. The acquisition of a high-quality office portfolio from Echo Polska Properties also announced today represents a major step towards achieving this ambition”, added Malgorzata Turek, Chief Executive Officer of GPRE.
GPRE has also secured an attractive investment pipeline, including a forward purchase agreement for an office in Wroclaw currently under development and a 25% interest in three offices in Warsaw currently under development for which the company has an option to acquire the remaining 75% stake upon completion, all expected to be delivered over the next two years. In addition, as announced by GPRE today, it has contracted to acquire a further three high-quality office properties in Wroclaw, Gdansk and Katowice from Echo Polska Properties for an aggregate purchase price of EUR160 million, which are expected to be acquired before 2017 year-end.