Penta Real Estate sold the Churchill Square office complex near the main railway station in Prague for more than four billion crowns. It will be acquired by Českomoravská Nemovitostní (ČMN) and Corporate Finance House Group (CFH). This is the largest business on the office real estate market in the Czech Republic this year.
The complex on a brownfield in the center of Prague began to emerge in 2017, when Penta Real Estate began construction of two office buildings and a year later SUDOP began building a residential building next door. The first office building became Deloitte’s new headquarters at the beginning of 2019, and in June this year, the majority of the second building was occupied by Fortuna Entertainment Group. The complex of new office buildings is complemented by retail spaces and services on the ground floor.
“Originally, we did not intend to sell our buildings in the centre of Prague. However, despite the Covid-19 pandemic, activity on the real estate market and the interest of investors in acquiring high – quality real estate has not stopped, which was a strong argument for us to sell,” said Pavel Streblov, Director for Commercial Buildings, Penta Real Estate, adding: “It is clear that the renowned investors have confidence in investing into high-quality architecture in a premium location in Prague.”
The real estate company ČMN in a joint venture with CFH won the competition against offers from investors from Germany, Austria and the United States, with a price that exceeded CZK 4 billion. Both companies have had a common business history in Prague, including an investment into City West C1 and C2, a building that houses Vodafone headquarters in Prague 5, the Crystal building with General Health Insurance Company (VZP) in the Prague district of Vinohrady, and BLOX, in Prague 6.
“Churchill Square’s quality and location perfectly fit our strategy, which focused on premium office buildings in Prague,” said Radek Stacha, Chairman of the Board, ČMN, adding: “By purchasing this office complex, we have reinforced our market position, becoming one of the 10 biggest office building owners in Prague.”
For CFH, this has been the fourth investment in Prague since 2016. Karim Chams Eddine, CEO, CFH, highlighted the company’s long-term commitment to the Prague real estate marketing, adding: “We are delighted that we are closing the acquisition of the Churchill Square office building complex with partners from ČMN.”
