Peakside Capital, a specialist European real estate private equity firm, announces that it has entered into agreements to acquire Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c's ('AIB') Polish property fund management subsidiary and its interests in two Polonia Property Funds.
This represents both Peakside's first direct investment into Poland through its Peakside Real Estate Fund I ('PREF') and its strategic acquisition of a fund and asset management business in a core market.
As a result of this agreement, Peakside will acquire AIB's Polish property fund management subsidiary, AIB PPM sp. z o.o..
In addition, separate agreements have also been signed by PREF and Partners Group to acquire AIB's 9.87% interest in Polonia Property Fund LP and 7.5% interest in Polonia Property Fund II Limited on a 50:50 basis. This is Peakside's first joint investment with Partners Group, a leading global private markets asset manager.
As a result of the deal, Peakside will add over 600 million of gross assets under management to its business, bringing its total assets under management to over 2 billion. In addition, it will substantially increase its headcount and add an office in Warsaw to its network, alongside its existing offices in Switzerland, the UK, and Luxembourg.
Completion of the transaction is conditional upon obtaining certain regulatory approvals and other consents.
Peakside has been evaluating the opportunity to expand its activities in Poland for some time, owing to the ongoing attractive fundamentals of the market and its growing interest to international investors. Poland is a core market for Peakside, alongside Germany and the other leading markets of the CEE. The acquisition allows Peakside to add an on-the-ground presence in this market and will add to its preeminence in these core markets.
Roger Barris, Founding Partner of Peakside, comments: "We believe that this deal will open our business up to exciting new growth opportunities going forward and we greatly look forward to working alongside Partners Group on this and other exciting strategic opportunities.
"As one of the most resilient property markets in Europe, Poland has long been an area of focus for our growth ambitions. This acquisition provides us with an established operational platform in the region, brings a portfolio of attractive assets under our management and provides an attractive investment for our existing Peakside Real Estate Fund I.
"We are now working together to finalize the remaining elements of the transaction and hope to be able to announce its conclusion shortly."
Source: FTI Consulting
