Clifford Chance has advised CPI Property Group on its acquisition of Futurum Hradec Kralove shopping centre, from Meyer Bergman, a privately held real estate investment management firm. The transaction was approved by the Czech Competition Office on 23 March 2018.

CPI Property Group (CPI) is a Luxembourg-based real estate group concentrating on long-term investments predominantly in Central Europe and Germany, whose shares are partly traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. CPI is one of the largest owners of retail properties in the region, with more than twenty shopping centres located in the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Romania. These properties play a significant role in the balance sheet of the Group, which has an asset value of approximately EU7.5 billion. The majority shareholding in CPI is held by Mr. Radovan Vitek, a private individual residing in Switzerland.

The shopping centre Futurum Hradec Kralove was opened in 2000 and offers visitors 110 stores anchored by a Tesco hypermarket over a total floor area of 35,000 m2. Reconstructed and modernized in 2011-2012 the mall also houses a multiplex cinema.

The acquisition highlights the continuing flow of Czech capital into commercial real estate. Since the beginning of this year, the ownership of at least eight office and business centres has changed hands, with the buyers, with only one exception, being from the Czech Republic.

The Clifford Chance team advising on the transaction was led by real estate partner Emil Holub with senior associate Aneta Sosnovcova as executive lawyer. The team further comprised of junior associates Klara Hrdlickova and Matej Kucera.