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 prominent real estate lawyer with nearly 30 years of experience in commercial real estate. He is a Practice Group leader advising institutional investors and developers on landmark investment transactions in Poland and CEE, involving single-asset and portfolio sales and acquisitions in the retail, logistics, PRS/PBSA and office sectors. His experience extends to involvement in advanced revitalization schemes including historic buildings and urban planning.

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.

Dentons' Real Estate team in Warsaw, comprising over 30 lawyers, provides comprehensive real estate and finance advice to most of the major institutional players operating in Poland. A significant part of our practice focuses on real estate transactions across all major real estate sectors, with a particular focus on retail, office, logistics, hotels, residential and data centers. We handle deals of any size and complexity.

Key current clients

Skanska Property Poland, G City Europe (formerly Atrium European Real Estate), Ghelamco, Patrizia, Cavatina Holding, Develia, Heimstaden Bostad, Nexity Group, Palmira Capital Partners, CPI Property Group, Tristan Capital Partners, White Star Real Estate, Eiffage Immobilier Polska, SEGRO, Orbis, DRFG Investment Group, Compal Electronics, Arkea Real Estate, Star Capital Finance, 7R, 1 Asset Management, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, Wood & Co.

Participation in property sales and acquisitions between July 2023 and June 2024

Dentons advised among others:

- Star Capital Finance on one of the largest retail transactions completed in CEE in 2024 to date, concerning the €285M acquisition of a portfolio of six retail centers, high-quality and large-format retail schemes from the Cromwell Property Group;
- CPI Property Group on the sale of a minority stake in a CPI subsidiary to Sona AM. This subsidiary is a shareholder of 12 vehicles that hold a portfolio of 11 office properties and 2 retail assets worth over €1 bn;
- Skanska on the €79M sale of Building E in the Nowy Rynek complex in Poznań to Eastnine. The office property currently represents the largest investment by a Scandinavian developer in Poland;
- Tristan Capital Partners on the largest office transaction of 2023, the sale of Mokotów Nova to M&A Capital;
- Nexity Group on the sale of 100% stake in 19 Polish subsidiaries of Nexity to Develia, who has also obtained control over 10 limited partnerships conducting development activities in Poland.

Total value of the transactions on which your company advised between July 2023 and June 2024 (in EUR)

€1.2 billion - aggregate value of 27 major property sales and acquisitions on which Dentons in Warsaw advised between July 2023 and June 2024.

Please say why the compamy should be considered for the award

Dentons' 30+ strong Real Estate practice is the legal force in Poland. Our firm market position is reflected not only in international and local rankings, but above all in the number and volume of transactions entrusted to us by our clients. Only in H1 2024 (a very challenging period for the industry) our team maintained its strong market position, closing the first half of the year with an investment volume of over €757 million (approx. 42% of the market share) and advised on two of the largest transactions accounting for 45% of the total volume in Q2 2024 - the acquisition of Cromwell Property Group's portfolio by Star Capital Finance and CPI PG's sale of a minority stake in a CPI subsidiary to Sona AM. This is the second year in a row that our Real Estate leaders have been recognized by ‘Property Forum EU’ among the most influential people in real estate in Poland, confirming Dentons' commitment to the growth of commercial real estate in our country.

Company website

www.dentons.com