WARSAW, Poland, Dec. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Skanska Property Poland, the Polish real estate development business of Skanska AB, today announced the sale of Marynarska Point, a two-building, 27,000-square-meter, Class A office complex in Warsaw, Poland to the Luxembourg based closed-end real estate fund Investec GLL Global Special Opportunities Fund FCP. The purchase price of approximately EUR 70.8 million (USD 102 million) reflects a capital value of EUR 2,600 per square meter.

The transaction took eight months to complete. Colliers International represented Skanska as exclusive agent in the sale. German bank Helaba provided the purchaser with senior financing for the acquisition.

"We are delighted to sell Marynarska Point. The buyer has acquired a great property and we appreciated their collaborative approach to the transaction," said Nicklas Lindberg, President of Skanska Property Poland. "With the successful sale of Deloitte House in June and now Marynarska Point, we will be increasing our development activities in Poland."

Located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Marynarska and Postepu Streets in the heart of the Mokotow District, a neighborhood in close proximity to Warsaw's international airport, Marynarska Point is 100 percent leased. Tenants include premier international companies from the banking, insurance, consulting, engineering and telecommunication sectors, including Bank DnB Nord, Generali, AC Nielsen, ILF Consulting Engineers and BZ WBK Bank.

The property also includes two parking garages totaling 430 parking spaces on three underground levels, and 20 surface parking spaces. Marynarska Point is also just the second building in Poland to attain EU GreenBuilding status. The property's energy requirements are 31 percent lower than the stipulated Polish standard.

"The sale of Marynarska Point is a milestone investment transaction in Poland as it represents the first major transaction to originate and close since the collapse of Lehman Brothers," said Neil Gregory-Eaves, Director of Central & Eastern Europe (CEE) at Colliers International, who represented Skanska.

Clifford Chance provided legal services to the seller. Colliers and Clifford Chance comprised the transaction team for Skanska in the EUR 117 mln sale of Deloitte House to Deka earlier in 2009. Salans provided legal services to the buyer in this new transaction.

"Several major assets in Poland are currently in due diligence and we expect transaction activity to accelerate in the coming months and this market will most certainly out-pace the rest of CEE for the near term," Gregory-Eaves added. "Poland's macroeconomic dynamics are healthy and the national economy continues to expand." He explained that Poland has a unique combination of an economic stimulus package in the form of EU infrastructure funding of tens of billions of euros allocated for investment throughout the country over the next three years, plus the stabilizing influence of the state's remaining ownership position in the economy which includes equity stakes in some of the country's largest banks.

Analysts also point to Poland benefiting from low debt levels per capita in an economy that is well balanced between exports and domestic consumption. The Polish economy is expected to be the best performing amongst the EU27 in 2009 with over 1.0 percent GDP growth, and with 2.0 percent GDP growth widely anticipated for 2010.

SOURCE Colliers International