CIJ Awards Slovakia Best Warehouse Development Over 10 000 Sqm Of The Year 2020
“And the CIJ Award Slovakia 2020 in the category Best Warehouse Development over 10,000 sqm goes to … ARETE” As part of the annual CIJ Awards Slovakia ceremony, we won the very prestigious category Best Warehouse Development over 10,000 sqm. This is the second CIJ Award, which was awarded to us for the year 2020, and this time in a category in which there has been unprecedented competition for a long time. CIJ Awards are longest-running and also the most important commercial property event for Slovakia, this year for the sixteenth time. Due to the pandemic situation, co-founder of our ARETE Group Robert Ides accepted the award in a more intimate atmosphere. Immediately after the announcement of results, the co-founder of our ARETE Group Lubor Svoboda shared his impressions: “The award, we were given today for the project in Veľká Ida, is extremely prestigious. We won the competition of the most important development companies. I would like to thank the entire team that participated in the project. We have shown that in addition to the responsible management of existing parks, we are able to implement the new development project in accordance with the highest standards and at the same time to bring interesting architectural elements to otherwise somewhat monotonous industrial buildings.” https://cijeurope.com/en/cij-awards-slovakia-2020-winners/post.html?ct=t(CIJ_Daily_News_CZ10_29_2014)
One of the largest real estate transactions completed: ARETE INVEST CEE II portfolio for 3 billion already in the hands of Cromwell!
The ARETE Group, which includes real estate investment funds, completed the entire transaction and transferred ownership of the complete portfolio of the ARETE INVEST CEE II subfund in the amount of EUR 113.2 million (CZK 3 billion) to Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT) a publicly traded real estate investment trust listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. The Portfolio comprises 11 logistics and light industrial properties in the Czech Republic and Slovakia with almost 100% occupancy rate leased to 17, mainly international tenants. The portfolio has a total leasable area of 125,000 sqm and additional 140,000 sqm for further development and future growth. As at 31 December 2020, Cromwell Property Group had total assets under management of €7.1 billion (CZK 184,6 billion) of across Australia, New Zealand and Europe. “In accordance with the agreements concluded in December, the transaction for the transfer of the entire real estate portfolio of our second subfund was completed today and the ownership passed into the hands of Cromwell European REIT. Although we are still far from standard conditions due to the pandemic, the transaction was completed on time. We thank the entire Cromwell Group team for their very professional cooperation throughout the transaction,” said Robert Ides, co-founder of the ARETE Group. Simon Garing, CEO of the Manager of CEREIT, commented: “We are pleased to be able to complete the acquisition of the portfolio, despite continued pandemic disruptions across Europe. Our current focus is on increasing our weighting towards the logistics and light industrial sector and this acquisition takes us to 38%. Importantly, CEREIT now also has a presence in two new attractive high-growth markets. I’d like to thank the transactions and asset management teams at our sponsor, Cromwell, as well as Robert and everyone at ARETE for working positively to make this transaction happen.” “We have seen almost five years of hard work behind us. Looking back, we made some of the right decisions. Everything was started by a thorough analysis of all real estate segments, from which we correctly selected the segment of quality logistics and light industrial properties. We consistently adhered to the given strategy and performance parameters required by institutional investors,” added Lubor Svoboda, co-founder of the ARETE Group. “I would like to congratulate the entire ARETE team on completing this landmark industrial transaction during the pandemic. We are seeing a continual increase in investor demand into the industrial sector and particularly a high quality portfolio across countries such as the ARETE portfolio. The underlying market dynamics and growth of e-commerce has led to this strong growth of demand from institutional investors. ARETE team has demonstrated the ability to create an investment product that ideally suits large scale international investors. The transaction further reflects investor confidence in the industrial and logistics market in CEE. We really appreciate our long-term close cooperation with the ARETE team and we are glad that we are preparing other interesting transactions for the third ARETE fund together,” commented Mike Atwell, Head of Capital Markets CEE for JLL. “After a careful analysis, we have evaluated that the situation on the light industrial and logistics real estate market is stable and the investment prospectus is interesting for the next investment cycle. In 2015, worldwide industrial real estate accounted for less than 8 percent of the volume of transactions, last year it was almost 25 percent. Last year confirmed the longer-term trend that the price of industrial real estate has become independent of the economic cycle. Although almost 10 million sqm of new rental space was completed across Europe in 2020, occupancy even reached an all-time high in January this year, when 95.5 percent of all available space was leased. This is the most of all monitored real estate segments,” explains Robert Ides and continues: “Our third fund is now in the investment phase, we want to fulfill our strategy and build a much larger and coherent portfolio of high quality light industrial and logistics properties in CEE, with a targeted value of at least EUR 400 million. At the end of the investment cycle, we want to offer the portfolio to the institutional buyers again.”
“And the winner is…ARETE”
We bring you an exclusive video from the non-traditional ceremony of the prestigious CIJ Awards Czech Republic 2020, category the Best Asset Management Company. The award for ARETE was accepted by co-founder Robert Ides. The video also captures his first impressions and emotions after the ceremony. “In the strong competition of Accolade Holding and Mint Investments, I really appreciate this award. This is a great success for all of us,” Robert Ides said immediately after the results were announced. The CIJ Awards are longest-running commercial property awards event in the Czech Republic. This year was the 20th years.
The 2020 CIJ Awards Czech Republic Best Asset Management Company of the Year Czech Republic 2020
Today, we would like to share with you the success we have achieved. As part of the 2020 CIJ Awards Czech Republic ceremony, we won the prestigious Best Asset Management Company category. The CIJ Awards are longest-running commercial property awards event in the Czech Republic and have evolved continuously over the past 20 years to keep pace with changes in local, regional and international property markets. The announcement of winners is usually a major cultural and social event. However, due to pandemic situation, it was not possible to organize the entire evening program. Nevertheless, we are very pleased that we were able to attend the event this year and it was our great honor to take over the award in person. Our co-founder Robert Ides accepted the award for our ARETE group. Robert shared his immediate impressions: “We are really happy to win in such a competition. Of course, the award and thanks go to our entire team. We appreciate CIJ Award immensely and it is a declaration of our long-term credibility and serious approach.”
We have entered into a partnership with the best Czech professional golfer Ondřej Lieser
We are happy to announce that we have decided to support the growth of the career of professional golfer and future Olympian Ondřej Lieser, the best Czech player in the world golf ranking and the first Czech player on the PGA European Tour. Ondřej is currently preparing intensively for the next Tour tournament and at the same time is already tuning his sport’s form for this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. Nevertheless, he found time for a short interview with our colleague Tereza Kasarda. They were talking about how he is prepared for the upcoming challenges and who is his biggest inspiration. We bring all this to you in a short interview. We thank Ondřej for the interview, we keep our fingers crossed for him and we believe that he will be very successful at the Olympic Games and the PGA European Tour as well! Tereza: What does it mean for you to get full membership on the PGA European Tour, first league of European golf? Ondřej: It means a lot to me, because I managed to move the boundaries of Czech golf forward. I am the first Czech player in history to win two out of five tournaments in one season, making me the overall winner of the 2020 Challenge Tour. Tereza: I assume that this season is extraordinary for you in all respects, I mean entry into the PGA European Tour and probable participation in the Olympic Games in Tokyo? Are you ready for the challenges of this season? Ondřej: The last season was definitely successful, I am a player in the second hundred world golf ranking, no Czech player has ever been above. I am definitely ready for the challenges and I look forward to them. Like almost every professional athlete, I would love to play at the Olympics. Tereza: How important is it for a professional athlete to have strong partners? Ondřej: Having strong partners is very important for us as athletes. Thanks to my Golf Geum Technology team and strong partners like ARETE, I can focus fully on golf and that helps me a lot in my journey. Tereza: You have achieved considerable success. What else would you like to achieve? What are your goals? Ondřej: I learned to win in strong international competition. In 2021 I would like to build on the successes of the last season. At the same time, I would like to play at the Olympics. The way I play shot from shot on fairways and greens, I set goals that I can achieve in the new season and I follow my path step by step. Tereza: Who or what inspires you? Ondřej: I am definitely most inspired by my wife, who motivates me to be better and work on myself. From the golf environment, they are the ones who were at the top and despite falling down, they managed to return to the top again. Ondřej Lieser is a Czech professional golfer who has been a full member of the PGA European Tour since 2021. The young, promising athlete, became the first golfer from the Czech Republic to win the Andalucía Challenge de España on the Challenge Tour in 2020 and received a full playing card on the PGA European Tour. Ondřej was announced the best Czech professional golfer for the year 2020.
ARETE plans significant investments in its third fund for 2021
ARETE Group fulfils its investment strategy by entering into a sale agreement with Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT), sells an overall portfolio of its second fund for EUR 113.2 million and plans significant investments in the third fund for 2021. Read the whole article here: https://cijeurope.com/en/arete-plans-significant-investments-in-its-third-fund-for-2021/post.html
Industrial Parks Making Money Even During Pandemic
Czech funds outperform foreign ones Once again, it has been confirmed that investing in industrial real estate is almost a safe bet. According to the real estate consulting company Savills, last year in continental Europe revenues from premium industrial properties and premium shopping centers were almost the same for the first time in history, as demand for logistics grew up sharply. You can read about us, as market leaders in the field of industrial real estate with gross return exceeding 17% p.a., about one of the largest transaction made last year and about a new acquisition in our third fund in the attached article in the daily Právo, only in Czech.
“I invest in tangible, income generating assets with return on investment above inflation,” says successful businessman Lubor Svoboda
On one hand, it is good to have cash, because it is the “king”, as it is popularly called, but on the other hand, the money in the account quickly loses value. In an interview with FAEI.cz, Lubor Svoboda, co-founder of the successful real estate fund Arete that focus on premium warehouses and logistics centers in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, brings his relatively conservative view on investing, what he thinks about cryptocurrencies, gold and bonds and what future awaits investors in the industrial real estate segment. The whole interview in CZ: https://faei.cz/investuji-do-hmotneho-s-vynosem-nad-inflaci-rika-uspesny-byznysmen-lubor-svoboda/?utm_source=www.seznam.cz&utm_medium=sekce-z-internetu#dop_ab_variant=0&dop_req_id=GB77jZOGAUu-202101180202&dop_source_zone_name=hpfeed.sznhp.box
Industrial property of company Hengstler new in portfolio of our third fund
The third fund of the ARETE Group acquired a modern, highly specialized production facility with research and development center and with the potential for further development in Kežmarok, Slovakia. The investment exceeded EUR 10 million. The third fund of the ARETE Group focused on quality industrial and logistics assets in the region of Central and Eastern Europe completed the acquisition of a production facility in Kežmarok, Slovakia, in December 2020. It is the purchase of a complex used not only for production and storage, but also as a global research and development center of the German company Hengstler with a 150-year history, which is part of the globally operating American industrial and technological group FORTIVE. The financial volume of the transaction exceeded EUR 10 million. “Current completion of this transaction is a clear signal that we are able to fulfil the fund’s strategy regardless of the complications of the covid-19 pandemic. We are able to find interesting investment opportunities with further development potential. The strategic goal is to purchase quality industrial properties into the fund and to acquire creditworthy international tenants with a high rating. The acquisition thus fully fulfils both of just mentioned attributes. An important factor for us is that the tenant is interested in expanding and investing in sophisticated research and development technologies in the locality. Other vacant plots of land that are part of the acquisition allow us to create conditions for long-term and stable growth of the tenant. We are pleased to welcome company Hengstler to our portfolio of premium tenants,” said Lubor Svoboda, co-founder of the ARETE Group. “It is a premium class industrial complex built in 2017, which has over 10.000 sqm of leasable area with the possibility of expansion by another almost 5.000 sqm, while in the course of 2021 it is planned to start new construction. The property is for 100% leased to the German company Hengstler. FORTIVE, a global industrial and technology holding company to which Hengstler belongs, is a company listed on The New York Stock Exchange, is part of the Nasdaq index and had sales of USD 7.3 billion in 2019. The high credibility of the tenant is proven by the fact that in 2019 alone, the FORTIVE group achieved a profit of more than USD 1 billion,” explains Robert Ides, co-founder of the ARETE group, and continues: “Hengstler’s interests in Kežmarok are strategic and long-term. It currently employs approximately 400 highly skilled employees not only in manufacturing but also in its global research and development center. The advantage of the region is the good availability of skilled labour. The tenant has a long-term lease contract. Its production program is highly diversified – the key components of the production program are various specialized electromechanical components, control panels and relays, which are supplied across all markets without specific industry or customer dependence,” concludes Robert Ides the positive evaluation of the transaction.
Arete acquires industrial asset in Slovakia
The third fund of Czech investor Arete Group has acquired a modern, highly specialized production facility with a research and development centre and with the potential for further development in Kežmarok, Slovakia. The value of the investment exceeded €10 million. The whole article can be found here: https://www.property-forum.eu/news/arete-acquires-industrial-asset-in-slovakia/7348
