Atrium European Real Estate has signed an agreement to acquire Wars Sawa Junior, a prime retail asset located in the centre of Warsaw, for €301.5m. The vendor is PFCEE, a fund managed by CBRE Global Investors. Following the transaction, Atrium’s loan to value ratio will increase from 33.5% to approx. 37%, in line with the company’s expectations. The transaction is subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions precedent, with completion anticipated during the fourth quarter of this year.
Built in the early 1970’s, Wars Sawa Junior was originally Warsaw’s first department store. Having been remodeled, extended and upgraded a number of times, it is now one of Warsaw’s most well established and popular retail centres with footfall in excess of 60 million visitors per annum. It offers 26,000m² of high quality modern retail GLA which is fully let to a range of strong international and domestic retail and leisure brands such as H&M, C&A, CCC, TK Maxx and Zara. Additionally, the centre offers a further 11,000m² of office and storage space.
Wars Sawa Junior boasts exceptional connectivity, benefitting from direct access to Warsaw’s metro (two lines), trams and buses, as well as a number of convenient local car parking facilities. In addition, the planned projects of the Museum of Modern Art in Central Park and additional office buildings will further enhance the attractiveness of the Centre’s surroundings in the coming years.
Commenting on the acquisition, Liad Barzilai, CEO of Atrium Group, said: “Wars Sawa Junior is one of the most well-known, best located shopping destinations in downtown Warsaw and this high footfall retail asset is a superb addition to our Polish portfolio. Not only does Wars Sawa Junior add another large dominant retail destination to our growing Warsaw asset base, it also offers a number of exciting opportunities for redevelopment and asset management that will allow us to grow the centre and create further value, taking full advantage of its unique prime central location. The acquisition is in line with our strategy of focusing Atrium’s portfolio towards prime shopping centres in Poland and the Czech Republic with the higher quality cash flow growth that they provide.”
