Wing poised to swoop on Echo Investment

Echo’s management board has announced that Wing IHC Zrt, a Hungarian special purpose vehicle owned by Wing, aims to acquire 100 pct (230,930,856 shares) of Lisala, which owns 55.96 pct of the share capital of Echo Investment. These shares, which are presently owned by the Pimco-Oaktree-Griffin Real Estate consortium, were priced at around PLN 4.6 on the WSE today (October 16th). This would value the eventual transaction at more than PLN 1 bln. However, the parties concerned are so far unwilling to disclose the financial details of the potential acquisition. The closing of the transaction requires the consent of the Polish Office of Competition and Consumer Protection (UOKiK).

“In the last four years we have successfully turned the company from a long term holder of completed assets to a pure developer, in line with our strategy for profitable growth. Echo Investment is well prepared to continue growth in Poland, building residential, office and urban destination projects. We have almost 90 projects in the pipeline, with a total estimated usable area of app. 1.3 mln sqm. With the support of a new, long term investor that is also a developer, we are convinced that Echo Investment will continue its growth and strengthen its market position,” comments Nicklas Lindberg, the CEO of Echo Investment.

The current owners announced a potential option to sell shares in Echo in March. Wing is one of the largest developers and real estate investors operating on the Hungarian market. It operates across the residential, office, warehouse, commercial and hotel sectors. The company also invests in real estate, their management and maintenance. During its twenty years of operations, Wing has invested more than EUR 1.5 bln and developed around 1 mln sqm.

“Following our successes in Hungary, as a long term, value driven, financially stable strategic investor, Wing set regional expansion as a strategic goal and identified the Polish market as the most attractive target destination. Wing’s aim is to invest in a platform – an operating company that is profitable with long term growth potential. In Echo we believe that we have found the ideal opportunity to enter the Polish market. The company is a highly professional, reputable, market leading developer staffed by an outstanding team,” added Noah Steinberg, the chairman and CEO of Wing.

Wing was advised by real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.