NBGI Private Equity furthers expansion into CEE

Three investments in Poland and one in the Czech Republic total over €75m.

NBGI Private Equity (“NBGI”) today announces that it has successfully expanded its reach into Poland with three new investments in the country:

• Acquisition of a logistics facility in Mysłowice, a 28,000 square metre property, from Credit Suisse Asset Management.   The property is let to ITM Logistique, the logistics company of supermarket retailer Intermarche, on a long term basis and is located in the Upper Silesia region of Poland at the junction of two major highways, the A4 and S1.  
• Acquisition of Panattoni Park Torun, a 30,300 square metre logistics property located outside of Torun, Poland, from Standard Life Investments’ Select Property Fund. Panattoni Park Torun is leased to Cereal Partners Poland
  Torun-Pacific, a subsidiary of global food giants Nestle SA and General Mills Inc, on a long term basis. The class A warehouse is situated on a six hectare site approximately 15 kilometres to the city centre of Torun.
• Acquisition of a 16,010 square metre warehouse property in Grodzisk, Poland, from Invista European Real Estate Trust. The warehouse is on a medium term to automotive storage, distribution and freight company Gefco Polska SP. The property was constructed in 2006 and is located in a prime location adjacent to a new junction on the A2 motorway under construction on the edge of Warsaw.

NBGI has now made four logistics investments in Poland within the last 13 months.

NBGI also today announces its first investment in the Czech Republic:

• Acquisition of Panattoni D5 Logistics Park, a 62,000 square metre logistics and industrial space, from Standard Life Investments’ Select Property Fund. The park is located close to the city of Stříbro and adjacent to a junction on the D5 Prague-Nuremberg highway. Major occupiers include Lear Corporation, Leoni
  Neumatic and ASA Abloy.

The acquisitions were made by NBGI Private Equity’s Real Estate Fund which invests in property backed assets in central, southern and eastern Europe. The Fund focuses on development projects and existing assets including office, logistics and warehousing, industrial, and retail.   These investments follow NBGI’s acquisition of Panattoni Park Garwolin from Standard Life Investments in October 2010. 

Commenting on the investments, James Huckle, Investment Director at NBGI said:

“These acquisitions meet our investment strategy of buying Class A logistics assets with long term leases to first class tenants. In contrast to economic uncertainty in much of Europe, Poland and the Czech Republic have shown healthy economic growth recently with improved road infrastructure and increased demand for logistical services.  We continue to see a lot of potential in the logistics real estate market in the region and are currently assessing further opportunities.”