Focus Estate Fund has closed the deal on the sale of its Czech portfolio

BNP Paribas Real Estate was the sales broker in the transaction. Kocián Šolc Balaštík provided legal support, Savills administered technical issues, ASB carried out financial consulting. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.

Centro Ostrava Retail Park is anchored by Jysk, Mountfield, Koberce Breno, Nábytek Getymo, Autodraft; Most Retail Park – Mountfield, Sportisimo, Koberce Breno, Auto Kelly, Jump Park.

«We entered the Czech market back in 2016 and were looking to create a liquidity event for our limited partners as our 5-year investment horizon has been coming to an end. During those 5 years we have succeeded in implementing our value-add strategy and in particular, increased the occupancy rate to 100%, strengthened the tenant mix and enhanced the attractiveness of the locations among the customers which has led to the increase of the revenues and capitalization. Our focus was and is on non-prime retail parks and convenience shopping centers and these assets have proved its resilience in the face of the pandemic. At this point we have even more appetite to invest in the Czech market», Maxim Shkolnick, Focus Estate Fund General Partner, commented on the deal.

«We are pleased to expand our Real Estate portfolio with two quality properties that fit into our investment philosophy. The strategy focused on conveniently located retail parks in the vicinity of the grocery store and focusing on daily necessities also worked for us during the lockdown period, when these stores often operated without major restrictions. Through the acquisition, we are also strengthening our position in important regions – in the Moravian-Silesian Region and Northern Bohemia», Otakar Souček, Investment Director DRFG, said.

«The proven location, easy accessibility and the associated attractive tenant mix are key “must-haves” that sparks an interest of investors if they intend to invest into retail properties. This was confirmed to us also while selling the Focus retail parks portfolio. We are thrilled that we were able to fully utilize the potential of the open tender sale process and that the transaction was successfully closed before the end of this year», Jan Bohata from the Capital Markets team at BNP Paribas Real Estate in Prague, commented.

«We are very happy to support Focus Estate Fund in their development in the CEE region by realizing their divestment objectives. The two retail parks located in the Czech Republic were part of larger CEE portfolio which is developed successively with our support», Mateusz Skubiszewski, MRICS, Head of Capital Markets in BNP Paribas Real Estate, Poland, added.

It is worth reminding that there are three shopping centers in Poland (in the cities of Sandomierz, Zgorzeleс, Bartoszyce) in the Fund’s portfolio.

Focus Estate Fund – Real estate investment fund focusing on non-prime retail properties in Central and Eastern Europe. The Fund’s strategy is to invest in the existing mid-scale commercial properties in the most dynamic European markets.

For any additional information please contact:
Oksana Rakova
Press-coordinator of Focus Estate Fund
Mob: + 38 050 5170077
E-mail: press@focus.fund