Recalibrating

Albert is taking over Tesco's Czech and Slovak business, with parent Ahold Delhaize paying €1.7 billion in enterprise value. The deal would make Albert the country's largest grocer, ahead of Lidl. Will it spark off a bunch of trading between the remaining competitors? If the map I’ve made is correct, half of Tesco's Czech hypermarkets and supermarkets (77 of 154) have an Albert within 1,500 m as the crow flies. Getting a bit more granular, 57 of 91 Tesco hypermarkets have an Albert nearby (less than 1,500 m) and 15 sit just 500 m apart. Interestingly, Tesco's network barely overlaps itself, while Albert is already its own neighbor in the cities, with 198 of its 346 stores within 1,500 m of each other. More here

Czech tax officials are probing around 100 owners suspected of cashing out tax-free through freshly minted holding companies, E15 reported in October. ASB partner Dan Ledvinka says the standard SPV-under-a-holding setup isn't the target. The trouble starts when an individual owner slots in a holding for no business reason, purely to avoid the 15% withholding tax on accumulated profits. The sting is for buyers: that tax is the payer's liability, so a reassessment lands on the SPV years later, whoever owns it by then. Hence deeper tax due diligence, indemnities, escrow and W&I insurance. Read Ledvinka’s detailed take on the issue in ThePrime here

PPF Real Estate sold the Monchyplein office building in The Hague in July, 13 years after buying it. A DHS Real Estate Investment Management-led group bought the fully let, A+ rated 7,000 sqm building, with NLInvesteert, EuroZaken and Deutsche Hypo as financial partners. That's PPF's third disposal this year, after Kateřinská 40 and its stake in The Westminster London, but it's buying too: Telehouse in Dejvice and Kaprain's portfolio.

Česká mincovna started building its new Jablonec nad Nisou headquarters in July, a roughly 7,100 sqm complex costing close to CZK 500 million (€20.5 million) that pulls production, offices and a public exhibition under one roof. Savills has been running development, project and cost management for the investment, along with construction supervision and health and safety. The brief includes vibration-proof foundations, precious-metal security and room for euro coin production should Czechia ever adopt the currency.

IKONIX has bought into AVANT's NEMOMAX qualified-investor fund and will run its development projects. The partners plan to invest more than CZK 1 billion a year and want NEMOMAX among the three largest Czech real estate funds of its kind within three years. The first joint deal, a luxury residential project on Nad Kazankou in Troja worth about CZK 300 million at sale prices, closed in October.

Zeitgeist Asset Management has started converting Táborská 31, a 1960s office building in Prague 4's Nusle, into a 394-bed student residence. Zeitgeist bought the asset back in 2020 with a view to the conversion. Architect arkhe D&B and general contractor SIS Construction will reuse as much of the existing material as possible, en route to a BREEAM Very Good rating. Students could start moving in by February 2028.

Hines has won regulatory approval for Hines Global Real Estate Opportunities, an open-ended, evergreen ELTIF aimed at Europe's private wealth investors. The $91 billion manager already runs the $7.3 billion Hines Global Income Trust in the US. It's joining a crowd: more than 250 private-market funds have launched in Europe since the 2024 ELTIF overhaul, though real estate makes up only 6.6% of ELTIF assets, according to Novantigo.

complexRE has guided Waberer's into what it believes is one of Serbia's largest agency-brokered logistics deals in years: 20,000 sqm at CTPark Belgrade Borča. The adviser ran the market screening, site selection and negotiations for the Hungarian logistics group and its Serbian subsidiary MD International. MD International moves first into a modern facility in New Belgrade, then into a 10,000 + 10,000 sqm build-to-suit at Borča. complexRE now covers 26 countries with 16 people, most recently adding Japan.

J&T Real Estate has secured a building permit for BLOQ, a CZK 15 billion scheme with 2,000 flats in Brno's emerging Trnitá district. The project covers almost 4 ha between Opuštěná and Trnitá streets next to the planned new main station. Presales start this year, with construction ramping up in H1 2027 on the first four of 28 buildings. Design is by Jura et Consortes, Burian–Křivinka, UNIT architekti and Atelier RAW.

The ČNB hiked its base rate by a quarter point to 4.00% on Thursday, a return to early-2025 levels. Governor Aleš Michl cited sticky core inflation, fast wage growth and accelerating credit to households and the state. The bank also cut its growth forecast to 1.7% this year and 2.5% in 2027, and raised next year's inflation forecast by 0.7 points to 3.2%. October's dip to 2.4% inflation? That's an anomaly according to economist. Core inflation held at 3.3%. Expect three more rate hikes within a year.