WING’s Polish subsidiary grows
Polish property developer Echo Investment, majority owned by WING, has concluded a significant acquisition agreement. Upon its purchase of a 66% stake in Wrocław-based Archicom, the group will become one of Poland’s largest residential property developer. As soon as the merger is complete later this year, the Echo-Archicom Group will start construction of 7,000 apartments for sale and lease. With this transaction, WING has taken another step to become a key operator in the regional property market.
The Polish property developer Echo Investment, majority-owned by WING, has signed an agreement to acquire a majority (66%) holding in Wrocław-based Archicom. Established in 1986 and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2016, Archicom is a developer active in the Polish residential property market, with a residential property portfolio of 5,700 apartments currently in preparation or under construction, of which 3,800 are residential developments underway in Wrocław and Krakow.
With this transaction, Echo Investment, a major company traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange and among the top 3 property developers in the office segment in Poland for years, will now become the leading residential developer in the country. WING, which has been the majority owner of Echo Investment since 2019, will now become a major operator in the regional market in addition to being a leading company in Hungary.
‘By buying a majority holding in Echo, our goal was to support the company’s existing long-term growth programme as a strategic investor, by combining the achievements of the Polish company with WING’s unique expertise and leading position in the Hungarian real estate market, and to become an increasingly significant, key player at the regional level. The acquisition of a majority holding in Archicom is another important step towards this goal, since with the transaction announced, our Polish subsidiary Echo Investment has become the leading residential property developer on the Polish market,’ said Noah Steinberg.
Echo Investment was established 25 years ago and has since been involved in the construction and sale of a number of residential properties. To date the company has completed 89 residential development projects with approximately 10,000 apartments in several cities in Poland, including Wroclaw and Krakow, a key area for Archicom as well.
Archicom, established in 1986 and traded on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2016, is mostly active in the Lower Silesia market. It started as a family business and now boasts 150 completed projects, including the redevelopment of the Browary Wrocławskie complex, the award-winning Olimpia Port residential park and the Platinum Lofts project, the first exclusive loft development.
‘Through Echo Investment’s purchase of Archicom, the Group will now be the largest company in Poland developing residential property intended for sale and lease. We will start the construction of 7,000 apartments in 2021 alone and 15,000 additional apartments intended for sale are in preparation with construction expected to start in the coming years. We think this transaction and our future cooperation offers great synergy and opportunities for development and knowledge sharing. We truly believe in the potential of the residential property market in Poland, as it is more resilient to cyclical fluctuations and is less capital-intensive. We wish to pursue diverse business activities, and, in addition to residential property development, we continue to be active in the commercial sector as well, where our objective is to maintain our position as one of the 3 leading office building developers,’ said Nicklas Lindberg, CEO of Echo Investment.
