Griffin Real Estate is the largest and most active investment manager in private equity real estate in CEE. Maciej Dyjas is a Co-owner and Managing Partner at Griffin Real Estate. Griffin originates and manages private equity-type investments into real estate-related companies and assets.
Griffin invests on behalf of both its owners and its renowned international investors / strategic partners – several global management funds such as Oaktree Capital Management, Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), and Redefine Properties from South Africa.

Griffin has been the most active and innovative investor in the region, introducing to the market several new concepts and formats. Within the last decade, Griffin has been the most active investor in the Polish real estate market, with over 30 successfully executed transactions, including creation of the first REIT on the Polish market.

The gross asset value of Griffin-managed investments across nine different platforms exceeds EUR 5 billion. The investment platforms consist of:

• Echo Investment – the biggest Polish developer in the commercial real estate sector and the fifth one in the residential sector, listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, which has completed almost 149 projects with a total area of approximately 1,400,000 sqm and located in many Polish cities.
• EPP (former Echo Polska Properties) – the largest REIT-type company listed on stock exchanges in Johannesburg and Luxembourg, focused on Poland-based retail and office properties with a total GLA of over 835,000 sqm. Currently the company is the largest owner of shopping centers in Poland. EPP portfolio includes 19 retail projects, 6 offices and 2 development projects of a total value of EUR 2,5 billion.
• Student Depot – Poland’s first and the leading network of privately-owned student housing. The company is both developer and operator, currently having over 1,100 beds in operations and will provide over 3,000 beds by 2020.
• Resi4Rent – the first residential for rent platform in Poland. The platform’s traget is to manage 5,000-10,000 units which will make it the largest privately-owned residential fund in Poland.
• Polcom Group – a Poland based manufacturer and provider of modular solutions to the global hospitality sector. Since the company founding in 1989, the originally family-formed company has developed into a leading fully-integrated modular construction company. Strategic objective is to establish the international footprint and to grow production capacity combined with institutionalizing the Company.
• Griffin Property Finance – the largest non-banking, real estate-related lending platform in Poland.
• Through Direct Real Estate Holding, Griffin Real Estate is also a direct owner and a manager of several office and residential projects.
• Chariot Top Group B.V. – a consortium of three independent funds which acquired a portfolio of 28 real estate assets consisting of 9 M1 shopping centers, 12 hypermarkets, 4 power parks and 3 stand-alone DIY stores, with a total GLA of about 702,000 sqm.
• European Logistics Investment (ELI) – a portfolio of industrial properties consisting of 9 assets with total GLA of over 300,000 sqm and ca. 2 million sqm in the pipeline, based on a strategic alliance with Panattoni, a leading logistic developer.

Recently, Griffin Real Estate has exited from Griffin Premium RE. (currently Globalworth Polska) – the first and the largest REIT-type company with internal local value-added management platform, with the biggest portfolio of 17 pure office and unique mixed-use high-street properties.

http://www.griffin-re.com/en

Cornerstone Partners is an investment management company, active in non-real estate private equity market in Poland since 2001. Combined track record of Cornerstone’s partners is proven by more than 60 companies to exit with an average IRR of above 35 percent. Cornerstone invests in private equity transactions in Poland and CEE with a focus on backing strong management teams to grow and transform their businesses.

The prominent investments of Cornerstone’s managing partners include several investments in healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors (such as Lux Med, the leading outpatient clinics network in Poland that was eventually acquired by BUPA / UK), investments in retail and consumer goods (such as leading Polish brands EMPIK and SMYK and joint-ventures with Zara, Sephora, Chanel and Dior), industrial, manufacturing and infrastructure (such as Kęty, Relax Wind, Budimex, DTH Capital / New York, Immobel, Domy Towarowe Centrum and many others).

In January 2016, together with Bridgepoint, Cornerstone acquired the Smyk Group – a leading retail network of stores with toys, clothes and accessories for children in Poland and operating in Germany, Ukraine, Russia and Romania – from Eastbridge and Penta Investments. The transaction value was EUR 250 million. Cornerstone Partners is a partner of Oaktree’s European Principal Group in sourcing, executing and supporting equity transactions in Poland and other CEE countries.

In February 2016, the partnership made an acquisition of ProService Finteco (former ProService Agent Transferowy), the leading fund administration services provider in Poland, with PLN 62 billion in assets under administration, in order to build European fintech offering middle office and IT services for TFI, banks and insurance companies. In order to achieve this goal, in 2016 and 2017 Cornerstone had made several add-on acquisitions of smaller companies, among others: Aspartus (which provides insurance companies with software for handling property, life and communication products), Bonair (an IT company specializing in asset management solutions), IFAS (specializing in valuation of funds). In 2018, ProService Finteco acquired two more companies – Makeitright and Turbine Analytics (which operate on the market of process automation tools for banks, insurance companies and SSC/BPO centers).

Moreover, in June 2017, Cornerstone Partners enlarged its portfolio through acquisition of IT Kontrakt, the company providing high-quality services in outsourcing of IT professionals and innovative IT solutions that are comprehensively supporting business processes. Along with the acquisition, Cornerstone Partners together with Oaktree Management launched the IT Services Competence Platform, which since then has been extended by the next acquired companies, as follows: 

– In October 2018, IT Kontrakt acquired 51% stake in SolidBrain, and the remaining shares will be acquired in 2019. SolidBrain is a leader on the market of IT outsourcing services in Poland, offering both outsourcing IT specialists and services of project management, development and software testing.
– In February 2019, IT Kontrakt acquired a majority stake in CoreValue. CoreValue is an IT outsourcing company based in the United States, providing traditional Cloud based CRM implementation services and Mobile applications to industries such as Pharmatech, Healthcare, and Finance. The development centers of the company are located in Ukraine and Poland, and deliver solutions to Fortune 500 companies, as well as to medium and large enterprises in the United States and Europe.
– In June 2019, the IT Services Competence Platform expanded to include another recently acquired company – Sevenval Technologies, a leading German consultancy for digital transformation with a strong digital user experience and technology background. The acquisition will strengthen the presence of the Platform on the DACH (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) market.

http://www.cornerstone.pl

The Eastbridge Group is a family holding company based in Luxembourg and created in 1990 by its founder, Yaron ‘Ronny’ Bruckner. Throughout its history Eastbridge has invested in multiple markets and diverse industries such as real estate, consumer products, media, retail, education, insurance and biotechnology. Eastbridge, although being a family-controlled business, has had several renowned financial investors over the course of its history.

The genesis of Eastbridge was the change of the political and economic systems in the Central & Eastern Europe region. Thereafter, in early 90’s Eastbridge formed several distribution joint ventures with leading global companies including L’Oreal, Eastman Kodak, Nestle, Canal+, Inditex/Zara, LVMH , PPR (now the Kering Group) and many others.

Out of this activity, in mid-90’s Eastbridge has developed a strong Private Equity practice, which focused mainly on food & beverages, healthcare, retail and consumer goods business in Central Eastern Europe. Eastbridge has invested in and developed several leading consumer brands as well as introduced many international brands to CEE markets. Part of the portfolio has been listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2004, as one of the largest Polish consumer goods conglomerates. This activity has been continued until early 2016. Eastbridge had more than 30 corporate exits within the sector, with over 30% IRR achieved.

In 1998, Eastbridge has been the investor behind privatization of Domy Towarowe Centrum, one of largest retail and real estate conglomerates in Poland at the time. Due to this fact Eastbridge has developed strong real estate practice in Poland, with its Centrum Development and Investments subsidiary being one of the most active high street retail investors in the country.

In 2003, Eastbridge started its investments in the New York City, US. Eastbridge has been purchasing several iconic buildings in lower Manhattan, transforming the old historic buildings from offices into multifamily rental residential use. Eastbridge owns currently several trophy assets, such as 63 Wall Street, 67 Wall Street, 20 Exchange Place, 70 Pine Street (former AIG headquarters) in New York. Its New York subsidiary, DTH Capital, has been one of the most active investors in the market over last years.

In 2007, Eastbridge started investing in real estate outside of Poland, among others, in the Benelux. In 2010, Eastbridge acquired Immobel, a leading Benelux developer listed on EURONEXT in Brussels. After expanding the company’s activities into new market – Poland, Eastbridge exited from Immobel investment at the end of 2015.

http://www.eastbridgegroup.com/