The projects of production and warehouse halls in Nošovice and Ostrava-Mošnov, co-owned by a fund from the J&T Group, will be gradually bought by the American investment giant Exeter Property Group. This is the first investment in the Czech Republic for an American company.
The American real estate company Exeter Property Group, which manages assets worth ten billion dollars, made the first acquisition in the Czech Republic. She agreed with the developer Concens Investments on the gradual takeover of the logistics complexes under construction at the airports in Ostrava-Mošnov and Nošovice near the Hyundai car plant. The projects have so far been co-owned by a fund from the J&T Group.
In the real estate market, the transaction with halls between Concens and Exeter was discussed in the first half of this year. However, no one officially commented on the deal. In September, however, the J&T group described the ongoing transaction.
“Colorizo Investment from the J&T Property Opportunities portfolio has started the process of selling logistics facilities in Ostrava-Mošnov and Nošovice. During the second quarter, a joint venture agreement was signed with one of the investors. The sale of individual halls should take place gradually in several phases over the next twelve months in connection with their gradual completion and occupancy by tenants, “J&T Banka published on its website.
Although J&T did not state the name of the buyer, in October this missing detail about the transaction was published in the case of Nošovice by the consulting company BNP Paribas Real Estate as part of an overview of events in the real estate market. According to a previous announcement on the J&T Bank website, Exeter will also buy halls at Mošnov Airport. The SZ Byznys editorial staff was also confirmed by sources familiar with the course of the transaction.
The only unknown remains the price. In terms of the size of both areas, however, it is clear that the value of the transaction was at least in the order of billions of crowns. None of the trading parties responded to the trade inquiries.
The first hall in the Ostrava Airport Multimodial Park complex in the immediate vicinity of Mošnov Airport was established in 2019. In September this year, the developer started construction of a terminal there, which is to help move freight traffic from road to rail.
“Just as new developers enter the markets, so do new investors who are attracted by the stability of the Czech industrial market. In addition to stability, there is also liquidity, which is always important for investors. By making the market liquid and stable, investors are willing to pay higher prices. This extends the payback period of the investment, where today it is expected to last over 20 years, “commented Jakub Holec, head of the consulting company 108 Agency.
Exeter is a very active investor in the European market. This year, the company bought, among other things, eight logistics centers in Poland. Exeter is part of the even larger EQT investment group. The Stockholm-based group manages over $ 82 billion in assets.
The industrial real estate market is booming and investors are in strong demand. The interest in warehouses and production facilities is so great that vacant halls have practically disappeared from the market. For example, around Prague, rents for warehouses are growing by up to 17 percent year on year.
“The pressure on rent growth will continue despite the fact that over 900,000 square meters of modern warehouse space are currently under construction. The reason is the lack of existing warehouse space in the main centers and also the slowdown in construction due to stagnant supplies in the construction industry, “said Dušan Drábek, industrial real estate specialist at BNP Paribas Real Estate.