Hines Russia & Poland Fund Completes Portfolio-Expanding Industrial Acquisitions
Hines has continued to expand its Eastern European portfolio recently after revealing freshly completed acquisition processes of two industrial facilities in the Warsaw market.
By Alex Girda, Associate Editor
Warsaw, Poland—Hines has continued to expand its Eastern European portfolio recently after revealing freshly completed acquisition processes of two industrial facilities in the Warsaw market. The new additions, announced by the company’s local office, were handled with funds from the Hines Russia & Poland Fund. The seller was, in both transactions, TMW Pramerica Property Investment GmbH. HRPF is a Luxembourg-based fund formed last year to handle the company’s investment interests in Russia and Poland, two of the largest European markets. Jones Lang LaSalle represented the seller in the transaction, with legal services for TMW Pramerica provided by Cameron McKenna, while Norton Rose handled legal aspects on Hines’ part.
The two newly acquired assets total around 753,200 square feet of space, divided between seven warehouses. Located in Gadki and Grodzisk Mazowiecki, and offering close proximity to the A2 motorway, a route linking the Polish capital to Berlin the properties offer great positioning along an important road. Developed between 1995 and 2004, the facilities were originally constructed as a build-to-suit project for the Raben group, currently still on the tenant roster. The new asset manager and property manager for the seven warehouses will be Hines Poland, according to the buyer.
The industrial asset in Gadki totals five warehouses and offers tenants 322,800 square feet of space, while the Grodzisk Mazowieki facility includes two warehouses totaling 430,400 square feet. The addition of the two facilities to Hines’ Polish industrial portfolio will bring the total area managed by the company in the country to around three million square feet. The expansion is seen as positive by Hines officials, with Simon Shen, HRPF fund manager regarding the deal as “an excellent addition to the portfolio” and going on to note that it offers “attractive risk-adjusted returns, it also helps diversify the portfolio composition.”
Hines, a privately owned real estate firm that activates in investment, development and property management for the industry, has been present in the local market since 1996. Development ventures in Poland include the Metropolitan in Warsaw, Quattro Towers and Centrum Biurowe Neptun in Gdansk, and the Arboretum in Lodz.
