American fund SOF-IX International Holdings, which is owned by Starwood Capital Group, will buy Ghelamco’s Katowice Business Point. The Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK) has just given its approval for the transaction.
The fund asked for the permission in May this year. Apart from the Katowice office facility, the American investor wants to acquire two Warsaw buildings of Ghelamco – Łopuszańska Business Park and T-Mobile Office Park. UOKiK, which is responsible for shaping the antitrust policy and consumer protection policy in Poland, had to check, if the concentration (purchase of the three office buildings) may have negative effect on competition.
Now UOKiK gives a green light for the transaction. The final amount of the deal is yet unknown.
Katowice Business Point is located at 3 Ściegiennego St. close to Silesia City Center. It offers an area of 17 000 sq. meters of office space on eleven storeys and a three-storey underground car park for 200 vehicles. The building was delivered in the first half of 2010. Ghelamco obtained the ecological BREEAM certificate for KBP in March 2011. The list of building tenants includes PwC, Tauron Polska Energia, PTWP Group, Żywiec Group and others.
Starwood Capital Group is a private, U.S.-based investment firm with a core focus on global real estate. Since the group’s inception in 1991, the firm has raised nearly USD 24 billion of equity capital and acquired USD 47 billion in assets. Starwood Capital Group currently has USD 33 billion of assets under management.