Last week saw the announcement of several large-scale transactions in Poland’s retail property sector. The most prominent among them is the sale of 36 retail parks owned by Trei Real Estate, valued at approximately EUR 300 million, to a joint venture involving Ares Management Corporation and Slate Asset Management, the latter making its debut on the Polish market. PwC advised the buyer in this transaction.
Another new arrival on the Polish market is Hungarian company Shopper Park Plus, which has announced the acquisition of eight retail parks for approximately EUR 195 million. Meanwhile, Echo Investment has sold the Libero Katowice shopping center—opened in 2018—for EUR 103 million to Lithuanian fund Summus Capital.
These deals—both finalized and pending completion this year—extend the trend observed in 2024, including the sale by Cromwell Property Group to Czech fund Star Capital and NEPI Rockcastle’s record-breaking single-asset acquisitions. Earlier this year, we also saw a major portfolio deal: My Park, part of the Czech Reticulum Group, acquired 10 retail parks from BHM Group. All these transactions confirm the strength of the Polish commercial real estate market.
The transaction between Trei Real Estate and the Ares / Slate joint venture is particularly significant—not only due to its size and the number of properties involved, but also due to the participation of international investors from outside the CEE region. In recent years, such investors have become less active in Poland compared to the pre-pandemic and pre-war (Ukraine) period. The entry of a new global investor suggests that, despite geopolitical risks, Poland is still viewed as a stable location offering attractive investment returns.
It is worth noting that the assets involved in these deals are either new or relatively new, well-located, fully or nearly fully leased, and supported by long-term lease agreements that ensure investment security from the buyer’s perspective. They require little capital expenditure, guarantee stable long-term revenues, and—in the case of retail parks—offer scalability and the ability to develop a portfolio under a single brand. These are precisely the types of assets sought by large-scale, highly selective global investors.
Such conditions are met by large-format shopping centers in major cities and networks of strategically located retail parks with well-curated tenant mixes that guarantee footfall, high turnover, and resilience to economic cycles. Acquiring a group of retail parks also enhances investment security by diversifying risk across multiple assets.
The latter segment of the market in particular is worth watching—Poland’s retail park sector is developing and maturing rapidly, creating opportunities to acquire attractive portfolios. Ares and Slate have been analyzing the Polish market for years, waiting for the right moment and the exceptional portfolio they believe has strong growth potential.
The retail sector continues to attract foreign capital just as successfully as the warehouse and office sectors. The latest deals will contribute to the final transaction volume for this year, though it appears unlikely to surpass the record EUR 1.6 billion seen in 2024. It is also worth highlighting that, beyond global market turbulence, foreign investors care about a predictable legal and tax environment—an area where there remains room for improvement on the part of Polish regulators.
Author: Kinga Barchoń, Partner at PwC Poland, Real Estate Sector Leader, Member of the Management Board of the Polish Council of Commercial Real Estate
