EPF buys 2 more Warsaw buildings for €200m
Fund acquired blocks C, D of business centre in Warsaw for €200m, say sources
THE Employees Provident Fund (EPF) has spent more than €200 million (RM942.25 million) to buy two buildings at the Gdanski Business Centre in Warsaw, Poland, in a bid to expand its real estate investment in eastern and central Europe.
The acquisition of Block C and D of the business centre follows the pension fund’s purchase of three logistics facilities in Germany last month.
Sources said the two buildings were bought by EPF’s European property investment arm, Kwasa Europe, through leading property agent Savills Investment Management (Savills IM).
“The acquisition of blocks C and D completes EPF’s ownership of the Gdanski Business Centre as it had previously bought blocks A and B from a developer from Slovakia, HB Reavis,” said a source.
HB Reavis said in a statement on its website it had sold two office buildings in Warsaw to Savills IM, which represented a retirement fund.
The two buildings, measuring 53,000 square metres, were completed in 2016 and rented to Aviva Group, KPMG, Nielsen, Euronet, BGNS BNP Paribas, GE and the Court of Appeals.
“Two initial blocks of 48,000 square metres were sold in December 2016 at a price of €186 million to Savills IM, representing the same customer.
“Recent deals (blocks C and D) are another sign of a huge investment flow to Poland, a country that has seen nearly €1 billion of investment over the past two years,” said the statement.
In March, EPF bought the Galeria Katowicka shopping centre in Katowice, Poland, via Savills IM, for an estimated €300 million.
EPF’s three logistics facilities in Germany were reportedly purchased through Kwasa Goodman Germany, a joint investment company between the pension fund and global integrated property group Goodman Group.
One of the facilities in Ergolding, Bavaria, will be leased to Germany’s leading automotive company, BMW, until 2032.
Two other logistics facilities in Marl, North Rhine-Westphalia will be leased to Metro Group, which will have the largest logistics space in Europe at 235,000 square metres.
It is understood that EPF is pursuing real estate investment expansion in Europe in order to maximise returns.
In addition to having several luxury buildings in London, EPF also reportedly bought two logistics assets in the Netherlands worth between RM476.27 million and RM501.34 million.