Globalworth confirms the closing of the acquisition of two office buildings in Katowice for a total transaction value of approx. EUR 54 million. The property is named Silesia Star and was developer by LC Corp.
Silesia Star is an office complex with two interconnecting buildings, developed in 2014 and 2016. Located at 18-20 Uniwersytecka St. in the immediate vicinity of the city center, it is close to two universities and various transport options. The building offers 29 200 sq. meters gross leasable area, with 95 percent occupancy. It is leased to a variety of tenants in the finance, technology and services sectors, for example Mentor Graphics, Getin Bank, GFKK and HireRight.
Together with Silesia Star, Globalworth purchased Retro Office House in Wrocław. Both office facilities offer over 50 000 sq. meters of modern office space, and through the companies present in these properties add approximately 10 000 new employees and visitors to Globalworth’s Polish portfolio community, which is now 110 000 strong on a daily basis.
Following this transaction, Globalworth’s real estate portfolio in Poland comprises 21 office and mixed-use investments with a total gross leasable area of 560 000 sq. meters. This acquisition follows the company’s EUR 500 million capital raise in April this year, funding its ongoing growth in the market.
“Retro Office House and Silesia Star represent very attractive, well-located properties in two important regional Polish cities. We are strongly focused on creating the best offer for the growing community of Globalworth tenants and customers in Poland, with an estimated 110 000 employees and visitors working across our portfolio every day. Our goal is to design and manage the entire user experience within these properties. This is why we focus on buildings in the best city locations and internalise property management in order to work closely with our tenants and be ready to respond to the needs of our growing community” – says Dimitris Raptis, Deputy CEO and CIO of Globalworth Group and CEO of Globalworth Poland.
Silesia Star is the third commercial property of Globalworth in Katowice. The company also owns A4 Business Park on Francuska St. and Supersam on Skargi St.
Globalworth is a listed real estate company active in Central and Eastern Europe, quoted on the AIM-segment of the London Stock Exchange. It has become the pre-eminent office investor in the CEE real estate market through its market-leading positions both in Romania and in Poland, where the company has a majority shareholding in Globalworth Poland, a pure-play Polish real estate platform listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange. Globalworth acquires, develops and directly manages high-quality office and logistics/light-industrial real estate assets in prime locations, generating rental income from high quality tenants from around the globe.
Managed by nearly 200 professionals across Romania and Poland, the combined value of its portfolio is over EUR 2,7 billion, as at 31 December 2018 and proforma for subsequent acquisitions. Over 90 percent of the portfolio is in income-producing assets, predominately in the office sector, and leased to a diversified array of some 650 national and multinational corporates. In Romania, Globalworth is present in Bucharest, Timisoara and Pitesti, while in Poland its assets span Warsaw, Wrocław, Łódź, Kraków, Gdańsk and Katowice.