TheWrap: Prague skips MIPIM again

CPI Property Group is pushing for full control of Italian REIT NEXT RE SIIQ — even at the cost of the vehicle's tax-exempt status. Crossing the 60% voting rights and profit participation threshold would trigger the end of the vehicle's exemption from income tax and levies on rental income and capital gains. Despite that, CPI is offering €3.00 per share — a 3.45% premium over the 27 February close of €2.90. That could end up costing it up to €13.2 million, which it would fund from its own resources. If the 90% acceptance it's targeting isn't reached, a merger-for-delisting is the fallback — something CPI can reportedly carry out with the votes it already controls. Analysts say it's not much of a premium, but could still prove tempting given the relative illiquidity of the listing.

Fidurock has acquired Sokolská 35 and 37 in Prague 2 — two buildings totalling 2,157 sqm near I.P. Pavlova currently occupied by offices and a polyclinic. The investor is targeting a conversion to rental apartments. Director David Hauerland says feasibility studies are underway to figure out how to sub-divide the units, and where superstructure additions can be achieved. One of the buildings received its original planning permission in 1883. Fidurock manages nearly three dozen residential and commercial assets across Czecho-Slovakia.

Julius Meinl Living has acquired an under-construction property on Marburger Straße in Berlin's Charlottenburg — two blocks from KaDeWe — for conversion into a 98-unit aparthotel under The Julius brand. Opening is targeted for mid-2028. It's JML’s fourth property and its first outside of the CEE region. Prague opened in 2022; Bucharest (Bulevardul General Gheorghe Magheru) and Budapest (near the State Opera) should follow in early 2028 and early 2029 respectively. Julius Hotels run on a hybrid model that straddles the hotel/serviced apartment model, aiming to appeal both to short-stay tourists as well as guests who want a more permanent base of operations for longer-stays.

Natland is making a meaningful push into Slovakia. The Prague-based group has added Bratislava's Bajkalská Office Center to a portfolio that already includes a JV stake in the Vivo shopping center. The Bajkalská acquisition is explicitly value-add — an older office building with a large land plot ripe for conversion. But, conversion into what? That’s allegedly not clear yet as several redevelopment scenarios are supposedly still under analysis. Maybe housing. Bratislava faces the same housing shortage as Prague, and Natland is targeting mid-segment BTR and development in a variety of locations. For a fund historically Czech-heavy, the Slovak gambit is a a genuine shift.

Penta Real Estate and Ballymore have announced The Brentford Project — their third and largest joint venture together in London. This one gives Penta a piece of the action on the second phase of a project Ballymore kicked off on its own. It comprises two buildings and 375 apartments at a total cost of £300 million (CZK 8.3bn). The two agreed on a 50/50 split for the 11.8-acre regeneration scheme, which reconnects Brentford High Street with the riverside. It should include retail, a cinema, a supermarket, and riverside walkways alongside the housing.

VGP's 2025 full-year results are strong across the board. EBITDA rose 28% to €454.7 million — the highest since the pandemic logistics boom of 2021 — while taxable profit reached €338 million (+6%), NAV grew 8.3% to €2.6 billion, and net rental income (proportional basis) climbed 16.7% to €224.4 million. The group signed a record €106.7 million in new and renewed leases during the year, re-letting vacant space at an average rental uplift of 14%. Annualized committed rents at year-end stood at €468.3 million (+13.5%). VGP has 43 projects under construction, a pipeline of 1,052,000 sqm, of which 75% is pre-let.

January's CPI print of 1.6% — the lowest since late 2016 — looks great until you consider that government subsidies pulled energy bills down 12.2% y-o-y. Without that intervention, inflation would have come in at 2.0%. That’s far from disastrous, but services inflation remains stuck at +4.7%. I mention that because the Czech Statistics Office says the biggest factor in services inflation is housing: market rents rose 6.3%, imputed rent 5.1%. Banka Creditas chief economist Petr Dufek says the tight property market is still feeding inflation, with demand outpacing supply and rate cuts doing little to cool it.

Zeitgeist Asset Management has completed a shareholder restructuring: co-founder Sebastian Junghänel has sold his Family Office stake to Family Office Noack s.r.o., ending a long-standing partnership. The post-transaction split leaves Family Office Noack with and 85% stake, with the remaining 15% in the hands of RAV SICAF -- an Italian fixed capital investment company. The exit follows Junghänel's appointment as COO and Management Board member of GTC, which took effect last September. GTC hired him specifically to lead its new German residential initiative. As GTC is a Warsaw-listed competitor operating across the same CEE markets, the Zeitgeist stake would have become a potential conflict of interest issue.

Jakub Dusílek is stepping down as CEO of UniCredit Bank Czech Republic and Slovakia, with Marco Iannaccone taking over on 1 April 2026. Iannaccone brings 22 years in the UniCredit group — two decades in CEE senior roles plus recent time in Germany — and will simultaneously become Director of Client Solutions for CEE. The transition is a straight succession, following a long run for Dusílek. UniCredit is one of the lead managers on the Passerinvest bond issue launching this month, for what it's worth.

Liberec Region signed a purchase agreement last week for the acquisition of the Ještěd hotel and transmitter tower from České Radiokomunikace (ČRa). In all, it will pay CZK 181 million plus plus roughly CZK 3 million for furnishings and equipment. ČRa retains use of around 30% of the structure, including broadcasting facilities and technical space. The easement will cost it CZK 3.5 million per year, not nearly enough to cover an estimated CZK 400 million of badly-needed renovations. The region wants to complete design work by the end of 2027, so that repairs can begin before fall elections in 2028.

Passerinvest is issuing CZK 1.5B in five-year bonds at 6.5%, minimum ticket CZK 10,000. The issue, led jointly by Česká spořitelna, KB, Raiffeisenbank, and UniCredit, will partly refinance up to CZK 729.21M of existing 2028 notes. It will also fund green construction and upgrades at Brumlovka (Prague 4) and Roztyly brownfield. Passerinvest’s headline project is Hila — a mixed-use scheme scheduled to complete by the turn of the year. Hila will be followed by Orion in 2027/2028. The 6.5% coupon is a significantly better option for retail investors with savings accounts that earn less than 4%.

Czech headline consumer price inflation came in at 1.4% year-on-year in February — the lowest reading since October 2016, following January's 1.6% (already a nine-year low). The driver is energy: -7.8% YoY after the government transferred the renewables levy off household bills and onto the state budget. Strip energy out and the number is 2.7%, with services inflation still running at 4.5% — which is the reason ČNB is holding at 3.5% rather than cutting.