Jury Awards

Name of company

Dentons

Department head or senior representative in Poland, real estate

Piotr Szafarz, Head of Real Estate in Poland and CEE

Department head or senior representative profile

Piotr is a top real estate lawyer in Poland, advising major institutional investors and developers in the retail, warehouse, office and PRS sectors. He is a first-choice legal advisor to Heimstaden in Poland, for whom he has completed a number of acquisitions of residential projects as well as forward purchase and forward funding transactions in Poland.

Team description including the major achievements

Dentons is the world's largest law firm operating in 80+ countries and 160 offices globally. Our clients benefit from more than 5,900+ lawyers and professionals with experience in 26 sectors and 40 practices. Our integrated team of 100+ real estate lawyers working out of Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, has vast expertise in advising clients on acquisitions and disposals of single assets, high-end portfolios and multi-country transactions across CEE, as well as joint ventures and development projects. We can handle deals of any size and complexity.

Dentons Real Estate team Warsaw is the leader in the Polish real estate market, providing full-service real estate and finance legal advice to most of the major institutional players operating in Poland. The team of over 40 lawyers advises on all major real estate sectors, with a particular focus on retail, office, logistics, hotels and residential.

Key current clients

Skanska, G City Europe (formerly Atrium European Real Estate), EPP, Savills Investment Management, Ghelamco, P3 Logistic Parks, Hines, SEGRO, Patrizia, Cavatina Holding, Develia, Heimstaden Bostad, Nexity Group, Palmira Capital Partners, PAREF Gestion, CPI Property Group, White Star Real Estate, Investika, HB Reavis, DWS, Union Investment, Apollo, JWG Invest, Eiffage Immobilier Polska.

Participation in property sales and acquisitions between July 2022 and June 2023

Dentons advised among others:
- Skanska on the largest office investment in CEE and the largest transaction in the history of Skanska's Commercial Development business unit in CEE, concerning the €285 M sale of the Generation Park Y.
- G City Europe (formerly Atrium) on multiple transactions involving retail assets from the client’s portfolio: Atrium Molo convenience shopping center (the largest retail transaction in Poland in Q1 2023), Kaufland Płock shopping center, Atrium Mosty shopping mall, Atrium Płock local shopping center and Atrium Copernicus shopping center in Toruń.
- Heimstaden Bostad on a series of acquisitions of PRS projects as well as forward purchase and forward funding transactions involving: Unique Tower, Moko Botanika, Studio Okęcie projects in Warsaw and ‘Orlińskiego Enklawa 15’ project in Cracow.
- Develia on the sale of the Wola Retro, one of the most unique office buildings in the Wola district of Warsaw (the largest office deal in Poland in H1 2023).

Total value of the transactions on which your company advised between July 2022 and June 2023 (in EUR)

€1.37 billion - aggregate value of 34 major property sales and acquisitions on which Dentons advised between July 2022 and June 2023.

Please say why the compamy should be considered for the award

Even though the commercial real estate market has been under ongoing turbulence due to the 2020 lockdown, post-pandemic difficulties throughout most of 2021, the war in Ukraine and historically high inflation in 2022-2023, the results of our Real Estate group in 2022 are comparable to the volumes of 2021. Last year, our practice signed/completed 45 major deals worth approx. €2.7 bn - a fair reflection of the team's commitment to the market. In these challenging times, we remain the go-to firm for international real estate investors, developers and private equity funds. Also in 2023, Dentons’ Real Estate team has maintained its strong market position, closing the first half of the year with an investment volume of almost €300 M (37% of the market share, where the total investment volume in Poland amounted to €802 M). Specifically, over this period, our lawyers advised on the largest office deals in Poland, namely the sale of Wola Retro and the acquisition of Bolero Office Point.

Company website

dentons.com