Investor of the Year, CEE

Accolade goes beyond investing into modern industrial parks. It creates complex economic ecosystems that drive regional transformation. By investing in structurally disadvantaged areas, Accolade converts underused land into thriving business hubs attracting more than 200 global tenants in retail and e-commerce, logistics and light manufacturing, creating about 30,000 jobs. Its activities stimulate local economies, enhancing infrastructure, tax revenues, and connectivity, while the long-term ownership model ensures ongoing engagement and responsibility. Sustainability is embedded across the portfolio, reflected in BREEAM or DGNB certifications, EU Taxonomy compliance, and strong CSR and ethical governance in all operating markets.

AFI is a forward-thinking leader in the CEE real estate market, renowned for its innovative approach to both residential and commercial developments. By successfully balancing modern design with sustainability, AFI consistently delivers high-quality properties that prioritize tenant satisfaction, environmental responsibility, and community enrichment. With a portfolio spanning 1.38 million sqm with the total value of EUR 4,346 million, and the 162,000 sqm gross leasable area (GLA) under construction, AFI demonstrates a clear commitment to revitalizing urban areas while enhancing the local economy. Its long-term vision and dedication to revitalization projects, like the historic properties in Poland, set a benchmark in the industry for quality and impact.

ARETE is a leading real estate investment group focused on sustainable value creation in Central Europe. Through its funds, ARETE acquires, develops and manages high-quality industrial, logistics and mixed-use assets, all fully leased to stable tenants under long-term agreements. The company combines disciplined investment strategy, efficient asset management and strong ESG principles, achieving resilient performance even in volatile markets. With a proven track record of delivering above-market returns, expanding its portfolio responsibly, and maintaining long-term partnerships with investors and tenants, ARETE exemplifies excellence, innovation and integrity in real estate investment.

DL Invest Group stands out as a one of fast growing investor due to its consistent and impressive performance across key financial metrics. Over the past several years, the Group has demonstrated a compound annual growth rate of 30% in both value of gross assets and net operating income (NOI) — a testament to its strategic vision, operational excellence, and disciplined investment approach. In addition to its strong organic growth, DL Invest Group achieved a major milestone in July 2025 by securing €350 million in strategic financing through publicly listed bonds on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange. This landmark transaction not only reflects the Group’s credibility and financial strength on the European capital markets but also positions it for further expansion and value creation. DL Invest Group exemplifies what it means to be a forward-thinking, resilient, and high-performing investor — making it a deserving candidate for the Investor of the Year award.

Griffin Capital Partners, CEE’s largest privately owned investment and asset manager in private equity and real estate demonstrated exceptional market leadership in 2024-2025, especially in self-storage and PRS. The company also opened a German office in early 2025, further expanding its operations. After Stokado and then TopBox's Polish operations aquisition (JV with Redefine Properties), the company began construction of the country's first self-storage facility designed to BREEAM standards (Kraków Sosnowiecka, opening August 2025). 3 additional facilities are under construction across Warsaw, Krakow, and Wrocław. These latest projects bring Stokado's base July 2024 portfolio of NLA 28 000 sq m up by 70%. At the same time, StudentSpace, co-funded by GCP, Signal Capital and Echo Investment is transforming student housing. With 1,200+ beds across three Krakow dormitories, the platform expanded local modern PBSA capacity by 33% and targets 5,000 operating beds within three years.

Ideal Idea should be considered for the Investor of the Year, CEE award for pioneering a new urban development model that has transformed the way cities, businesses, and logistics interact. Through our investments, we have redefined the relationship between business operations, distribution, and urban planning, introducing the Small Business Units (SBU) concept to Poland and the CEE region. Our projects near Warsaw Chopin and Wrocław Copernicus Airports have proven that logistics can coexist with high-end office architecture, sustainability, and city infrastructure. By integrating commerce into the urban fabric, we have influenced how municipalities plan, investors think, and companies operate. Ideal Idea is not only building spaces — it is shaping a more connected, efficient, and responsible vision of the modern city.

M Core deserves the award for its dynamic growth and market leadership in Poland and Romania. With over 60 M Park’s in Poland, and investments in Romania valued to over EUR 150 million, the company delivers high-quality developments, enhances tenant experience, drives regional impact, and creates lasting investor value. Through strategic acquisitions, new developments, and active asset management, M Core sets industry benchmarks and shapes the retail landscape in Central and Eastern Europe.

Core office transaction closed by a core German investor.

NEPI Rockcastle is the most active investor in retail real estate in CEE, with its off- market acquisitions in Poland in the second half of 2024 accounting for roughly 40% of all retail transactions in the region that year. In addition, it has a €795m ongoing development programme which means a total investment in CEE retail real estate of more than €1.5bn. Due to the strength of its balance sheet with an LTV of 32.1% and enviable ability to raise both equity and capital – as demonstrated by its €500m green bond raise and €300m equity raise in the second half of 2024 – the company has been actively expanding its presence in the region. Furthermore, it is locally run and managed providing a unique insight into how shopping centres are integrated into CEE economies, it has an expansive network of international brands and concepts to bring to the region, and the skills to deliver robust investor returns while shaping the future of retail for local communities.

The dynamic scale-up of operations brings organizational challenges; however, efficient processes developed and implemented by Newgate Investment over more than 11 years of activity, combined with sound investment decisions, enable the company to maintain operational fluidity. Teams built on expertise and experience ensure proactive property management, which directly translates into asset value for investors, tenants, and local communities alike. The current occupancy rate of the projects is close to 100% (99.7%, editor’s note), significantly exceeding the market average for portfolios of this type by approximately 5% (editor’s note), confirming the validity of the investment strategy focused on acquiring dominant retail projects in specific locations or projects that are part of shopping destinations with extensive offerings and reach.

Newport by Panattoni stands out as one of the most dynamic real estate investment platforms in the CEE region, combining institutional discipline with deep market expertise.. Newport by Panattoni delivers a positive economic impact through regional development, job creation, and the delivery of high-quality, sustainable logistics infrastructure aligned with ESG principles.

Polski Holding Nieruchomości (PHN) is one of Poland’s largest real estate groups, managing assets worth PLN 3.5 billion across office, residential, and logistics sectors. In 2024, PHN entered a new phase of growth with the launch of its 2025–2030 strategy “New Start,” aimed at strengthening its market position and creating a fully integrated business structure. With four complementary business pillars – Development, Lease, Construction, and PRS – PHN plans to deliver 3,200 apartments, 40,000 sqm of new Class A offices, and 600,000 sqm of logistics space by 2030. The strategy also emphasizes ESG, energy transformation, and innovation, including AI-driven solutions and a 42% CO₂ reduction target. PHN combines state ownership stability with modern market agility, setting new standards of sustainable and responsible investing in Poland’s real estate sector.

The company has sucessfully closed 6 significant transactions in 2024-2025: -B4B Meadows disposal- Poland(a permitted residential development project with a development area of 10,400 sqm with building permits in place for 20,800 sqm residential purposes and are planned to deliver 434 modern apartments), -The Landmark disposal-Romania (23,700 sqm of state-of-the-art offices in the capital’s CBD - Trinity One disposal - Poland- 19,820 sq m of high-quality office space in Warsaw - Metropolis Project disposal (476,000 sqm of land for development located near Bratislava) - TriGranit disposal - Park Center Sofia disposal- Sofia’s first modern shopping center spanning 22,000 sqm of GLA - Additionally, in 2025, global real estate special situations firm Revetas has been mandated to support the repositioning of a $4.0 billion US property portfolio by the German investment manager who represents multiple German pension funds and other investors.

Since its founding more than 50 years ago, W. P. Carey helped pioneer the sale-leaseback model in the US and again in Europe over 25 years ago. W. P. Carey has an on-the-ground European investment team that adopts a ‘sector-agnostic’ investment approach, that works quickly and efficiently to execute complex, multi-asset, multi-jurisdictional deals with multiple parties. W. P. Carey also has a strong track record in the CEE region (over 1.3 billion EUR invested) and continues to identify and close attractive opportunities here.

ZEITGEIST has built up the first residential rental portfolio owned by an institutional investor in Central and Eastern Europe, comprising around 1,000 apartments and still growing. Over the past 12 months, we have completed two PRS projects located in historic buildings: Św. Barbary 6/8 and Wrzesińska 2 in Warsaw and Karoliny Svetle 12–14 in Prague. These projects have further developed the HOME by Zeitgeist offering, which operates long-term apartment rentals. This autumn, our subsidiary ZEITRAUM reached an important milestone with the opening of ZEITRAUM Racławicka in Krakow. This flagship mixed-use development, located in a prime part of the city, offers 289 beds for students and 182 fully equipped serviced apartments. In total, ZEITRAUM now operates seven student dormitories in Prague, Warsaw and Krakow, providing over 1,200 beds for students, as well as a network of 300 serviced short-term rental apartments across Prague, Pilsen and Krakow.