Department head or senior representative in Poland, real estate
Wojciech Koczara, Head of CEE Real Estate
Department head or senior representative profile
Wojciech Koczara is a qualified legal advisor, a partner at CMS Poland and head of the CEE Real Estate & Construction Group. He has been advising domestic and international investors in relation to the purchase, sale and lease of commercial estates and the performance of development projects since 1999. He has recently led the team advising Pradera on Polish and Czech aspects of EUR 900m acquisition of IKEA portfolio and REICO on the EUR 116m acquisition of Proximo I building in Warsaw.
Key current clients
NEPI Rockcastle, Pradera, Futureal Group, TREI Real Estate,REICO, Union Investment, Standard Life, Atenor, Deka Immobilien, Invesco Real Estate, Allianz, Lufthansa Technik, Egger, Panattoni, Segro, Prologis, FM Logistic, Goodman, Aberdeen Asset Management, Honeywell, E&Y, Alpha Real Estate, Bluehouse, PGIM, Mid Europa Partners (MEP), Qualia Development, CA Immo
Participation in property sales and acquisitions between October 2016 and September 2017
Key transactions included:
• We advised Pradera on Polish and Czech aspects of EUR 900m acquisition of a retail portfolio from IKEA.
• In the Czech Republic we advised on the landmark DEKA Immobilien acquisition of “The Park" office complex in Prague, the largest office transaction ever in the Czech Republic;
• In the Czech Republic we advised Pradera on the sale of two shopping centres to Star Capital Investments, these included the sale of: Futurum, Ostrava, the 30,000m² centre is the first of this size in Ostrava and Hana Shopping Centre, Olomouc, containing 61 retails and restaurant units anchored by a Tesco hypermarket to Star Capital Investments. This represented two of the largest shopping centre transactions in the Czech Republic for 2017.
• In Hungary we advised TREI on the sale of its Hungarian real estate portfolio made up of 40 supermarkets (mostly leased to Spar) to Erste Asset Management, a transaction which is considered to be the largest Hungarian retail portfolio transaction of 2017, the total size of the deal was in excess of 39,500 square meters across Hungary. We also assisted NEPI Rockcastle on €275m acquisition of Arena Plaza the second largest retail centre in Budapest and its acquisition is considered to be one of the largest Hungarian real estate transaction this year.
• In Poland we advised on two biggest retail transaction on the market 2017/2018: Deutsche Asset Management on the purchase of a portfolio of Fashion House Outlets located in the Polish cities of Piaseczno, Gdansk, and Sosnowiec from Peakside Capital and Mid Europa Partners on the vendor due diligence of 4600 stores of Zabka Polska (“Zabka”), the leading Polish convenience retailer to CVC. This was the largest ever transaction in the Polish food retail sector and the largest ever private equity exit in Poland.
• In Romania CMS assisted on all Real Estate matters of the financing of the acquisition of the largest logistic portfolio in CEE by Blackstone’s division, LogiCor.
Participation in development projects between October 2016 and September 2017
PL - Lufthansa Technik on the EUR 250m investment in Środa Śląska (construction and land plots aspects).
PL - On the construction of the state-of-the-art Nowa Łódź Fabryczna railway station, one of the largest railway projects in the European Union and the most modern in Poland. CMS lawyers supported the general contractor of the railway station and the railway line – the consortium of Torpol, Astaldi, Intercor and Przedsiębiorstwo Budowy Dróg i Mostów.
PL - La Lorraine - in connection with the construction of industrial facilities in the grocery industry.
PL - Egger - on the development of a new wood based panel production facility in Biskupiec, in north-eastern part of Poland (green-field investment).
SL- on the Investment Agreement and all real estate corporate matters in relation to biggest greenfield investment in Slovakia.
HU - Beckton Dickinson on the new plant.
CZ - on the development of 360+ room hotel in Prague.
Total value of the transactions on which your company adviced between October 2016 and September 2017 (IN EUR)
over EUR 4.5 billion
Please say why you should be considered for the award
The Real Estate CEE investment market is estimated at EUR 12bn according to Colliers. CMS assisted on projects worth over EUR 4.5 bn.
No other law firm has comparable office coverage in CEE/SEE
CMS advised on biggest deals in PL, CZ and HU (pls see above).
Our recent merger with Nabarro (real estate leading UK firm) and Olswang in the UK created the biggest real estate team in Europe (800 lawyers, of whom 215 are partners).
Top Real Estate rankings in Chambers and Legal 500 across CEE.
Number 1 M&A deal maker in CEE – First nine months 2017 Bloomberg table.
Our CEE practice received the prestigious “Manufacturing Excellence Award 2017” in the “Law Firm” category at the fifth annual CEE Manufacturing Excellence & Industrial Property Awards 2017 organised by EuropaProperty.com and CEO Manufacturing Magazine.
