MGPA, the private equity real estate investment advisory company, has completed the acquisition of two new shopping centres in Poland for EUR 187 mln or EUR 1,765 per m2. The deal marks the largest real estate transaction in Poland since 2007.

MGPA has also taken an option over a third centre from DTC Finance. All three shopping centers were developed and have been managed by Mayland Real Estate. The two shopping centres acquired initially, Karolinka and Pogoria, are located in the Silesia region near the German and Czech Republic borders. Colliers International represented the vendor and was the sole agent in the transaction.

Karolinka is an out-of-town regional destination shopping centre of 70,000 m2, with a primary catchment area of 455,000 people. Pogoria is a 36,000 m2 two-level shopping centre in a prime location with a catchment area of one million people. Both centres are well let with occupancy above 98%. The weighted average lease length is approximately 6.5 years and 70% of the tenants are established international brands such as Real (Metro Group), Leroy Merlin, OBI, Decathlon, H&M, KappAhl, Reserved, Cubus and New Yorker. Mayland Real Estate will continue the property management of the new generation centres.

The acquisitions have been made on behalf of MGPA Europe Fund III, part of the larger MGPA Global Fund III, which closed in June 2008 with commitments of $5.2 bn (EUR 3.57 bn) to invest across Europe and Asia. The fund itself raised $1.3 bn (EUR 841.5 mln) and has already made investments in the UK, France, Italy, Greece and Poland and currently remains largely uninvested.