Further to its announcement of 13 May 2019, Atrium European Real Estate Limited, a leading owner, operator and redeveloper of shopping centres and retail real estate in Central Europe, has completed €341 million of transactions in Poland.
The deals comprised the disposal of two assets and an acquisition in Poland.
Atrium has now completed the €298 million sale of two Polish shopping centres, Atrium Koszalin and Atrium Felicity, to a fund managed by ECE Real Estate Partners. The sale price represents a circa 3% premium to the 31 March 2019 book value.
Atrium has also recently completed the acquisition of the King Cross Praga shopping centre in Warsaw for €43 million. This well-established asset offers future redevelopment opportunities and will be the Company’s fifth asset in its Warsaw portfolio.
Liad Barzilai, CEO of Atrium Group, said: “These transactions show further progress of our ongoing strategy to focus on quality assets in prime urban locations, and in particular capital cities, where we believe we can deliver stronger and more sustainable income in the long term. The disposal proceeds will contribute to the financial flexibility and liquidity of the Group, placing us in a position to take advantage of quality opportunities should they arise.”
RPA Perspective In May, Atrium announced continued progress in executing the Group’s strategy to focus the portfolio towards prime shopping centres in Poland and the Czech Republic.
It signed an agreement to acquire Atrium’s fifth asset in Warsaw, King Cross shopping centre, for €43m with completion expected in Q2 2019 and now executed.
“This is a well-connected and established retail destination with a diverse tenant mix including strong national and international tenants - monetised 13% of the land bank with the completion of a €28m land disposal in Gdansk, Poland at around book value,” the company said of the asset.
It also recorded a 1.4% improvement in EPRA like-for-like net rental income (NRI) excluding Russia or 0.2% growth across the portfolio.
Higher quality cash flow was generated from acquisitions and the opening of three extensions in Warsaw in Q4 2018 offset the impact from disposals including the exit from Hungary and Romania, resulting in a 1.0% increase in NRI excluding Russia, said Atrium.
EBITDA remained stable at €41m while the EBITDA margin remained strong at 89% (Q1 2018: 88%). Like-for-like NRI in Russia decreased by 2.9%, mainly as a result of specific tenants exiting the market and subsequent re-tenanting initiatives.
The company described its balance sheet as well positioned to support growth with €54m cash and equivalents, €257m unutilised revolving credit facility and a net LTV of 37.6%.
