Helaba finances Starwood Capital Group's purchase of Polish office portfolio (PL)

Helaba is providing a €136 million long-term facility to Starwood Capital Group in support of their recent acquisition of three office properties in Poland. The private investment firm acquired the class A portfolio through its affiliate Starwood Opportunity Fund IX from real estate developer Ghelamco. Helaba is acting as Sole Underwriter and Arranger in this transaction.
Two of the properties are located in Poland’s capital Warsaw, and one in Katowice, a major city in the Upper Silesian region. The portfolio comprises 78,000 m² of gross leasable area and is currently 96% leased on a long-term basis to nationally and internationally established companies: Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Tauron, and Żywiec, Poland’s largest beer brewer, are anchored at Katowice Business Point; T-Mobile and Citibank are based in the T-Mobile Office Park in Warsaw, Mokotów; and Allianz Poland as well as Alior Bank are situated in the modern premises of Lopuszanska Business Park in Warsaw. All properties have been designed to meet the BREEAM eco-certification standard.
Helaba is pleased to, once again, support Starwood Capital Group as it continues acquiring high-quality office assets in Central and Eastern Europe. The Bank launched its real estate activities in this region in 2006, and has since focused on long-term financing for national and international investors, as well as funds in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Helaba’s performance recently has been awarded “Bank of the year 2013” by CEEQA.
Source: Helaba