CHURCHILL changes owner, acquired for billions by ČMN and CFH
Penta Real Estate has sold the Churchill Square office building complex near the Prague Main Railway Station to Českomoravská Nemovitostní (ČMN) and Corporate Finance House Group (CFH). It is the biggest transaction on office building market in the Czech Republic this year.
The brownfield located in Prague’s downtown has been refurbished since 2017, when Penta Real Estate started to build two office buildings, followed by a residential building by SUDOP a year later. Early in 2019, the first office building became a new headquarters of Deloitte Czech Republic, while the second building has been occupied predominantly by Fortuna Entertainment Group since June 2020. The office complex is complemented by retail and services on the ground floor.
“Originally, we did not intend to sell our buildings in the centre of Prague. However, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, activity on the real estate market and the interest of investors in acquiring high - quality real estate has not stopped, which was a strong argument for us to sell,” said Pavel Streblov, Director for Commercial Buildings, Penta Real Estate, adding: “It is clear that the renowned investors have confidence in investing into high-quality architecture in a premium location in Prague.”
The real estate company ČMN in a joint venture with CFH won the competition against offers from investors from Germany, Austria and the United States, with a price that exceeded CZK 4 billion. Both companies have had a common business history in Prague, including an investment into City West C1 and C2, a building that houses Vodafone headquarters in Prague 5, the Crystal building with General Health Insurance Company (VZP) in the Prague district of Vinohrady, and BLOX, in Prague 6.
“Churchill Square’s quality and location perfectly fit our strategy, which focused on premium office buildings in Prague,” said Radek Stacha, Chairman of the Board, ČMN, adding: “By purchasing this office complex, we have reinforced our market position, becoming one of the 10 biggest office building owners in Prague.”
For CFH, this has been the fourth investment in Prague since 2016. Karim Chams Eddine, CEO, CFH, highlighted the company’s long-term commitment to the Prague real estate marketing, adding: “We are delighted that we are closing the acquisition of the Churchill Square office building complex with partners from ČMN.”
This year’s largest transaction on the office building market has been financed by Helaba, a German bank that had earlier participated on financing the acquisition of the Palladium shopping centre and CTP’s development project in logistics.
