KINGSTONE Real Estate (KINGSTONE RE) brokered the purchase of a high-rise office building in Gdansk by the Austrian STRABAG Group, accompanied and managed the due diligence and transaction process. The Trophy property is the largest office building in the Tricity Metropolitan Region (Gdansk, Gdynia, Sopot), as well as in all other regional Polish cities.
The “Olivia Star” property is 180 meters high, comprises 34 floors and has 40,000 square meters of premium office space. In addition, there is an extensive area with conference areas, five restaurants, three bars and an observation deck open to the public. The occupancy rate is 98 percent. Major office tenants include Nordea Bank, PwC and Olivia Star Top. The seller and developer of the property is Tonsa Commercial, an international real estate investor. The purchase price is around EUR 150 million, and the transaction was carried out as a share deal. Following the closing, KINGSTONE RE will take over the long-term asset management of the property and support the owner in the implementation of the investment strategy and the sustainable value development of the property.
Philipp Schomberg, Co-Founder of KINGSTONE RE and CEO Poland, comments: “We are very pleased to have concluded this major deal. For KINGSTONE RE and its activities in Poland, this is a milestone on our further growth path. We played a key role in this transaction on the buyer’s side. Our services included transaction advisory with institutional standards, the coordination of the entire investment process and the conduct of contract negotiations on the buyer side. Furthermore, we identified this attractive off-market deal through our excellent local network and brokered it to the STRABAG Group as an ideal object for its requirements in terms of investment security, quality and long-term prospects.”
Pawel Sobolewski, Managing Director Poland and Head of Fund Management at KINGSTONE RE, adds: “We are currently observing increasing interest from international investors in the Polish real estate market and especially in the office segment. The yield differential with Western European markets remains a key driver of international capital inflows. Against the backdrop of the strong economic development of Poland, which is at the top of the ranking of GDP forecasts of European countries, we expect a further upward trend in real estate prices. Now is the right time to invest in the institutional real estate sector in Poland and to realize value increases in the future.”
Philipp Schomberg explains the next steps: “KINGSTONE RE will continue to steer the onboarding process and establish institutional management structures. We will represent the investor exclusively on site as an operational partner and take on the role of asset manager for Olivia Star.”
The property “Olivia Star” is located at 472C Grunwaldzka Street in Gdańsk, in the Oliwa submarket. “Olivia Star” is the landmark tower of the Olivia Centre complex, the largest office park in Poland, which is also one of the largest in CEE. The complex consists of a total of seven objects. The subject of the transaction was only the “Olivia Star” tower. The other six properties remain the property of the seller.
On the seller side, Greenberg Traurig and Pinsent Masons (legal transaction advice) and Tax Advisor Magdalena Zamoyska (tax transaction advice) acted as advisors. On the buyer’s side, Act Legal (legal and tax), Savills (technical due diligence) and Baker Tilly (financial due diligence) advised on the buyer’s side.
