Babiš's Hartenberg bought the Orchard office complex in Ostrava

Ostrava - The new owner of the Orchard complex, which is one of the most modern office spaces in Ostrava, has become the investment fund Hartenberg Holding. It acquired a hundred percent stake in the company Portal Investments, which is the sole owner of Orchard. The ultimate owners of Hartenberg Holding are Finance Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) and Jozef Janov, who is the managing partner of the fund. Kateřina Batalová communicated this to ČTK on behalf of Hartenberg today. The value of the investment was not disclosed.

The complex was built near the center of Ostrava for approximately 50 million euros (according to the current exchange rate 1.35 billion crowns) by the Czech-Irish development company Red Group. It was completed in 2009. The three buildings include 36,000 square meters of modern Class A office space. Each building has five above-ground and one underground floor with a total capacity of 12,000 square meters of offices, which can be tailored to the individual needs of tenants. Parking spaces and storage areas are available. For example, the transport company AWT is located in the complex, and service centers for Okin BPS and Siemens are also present there.

For Hartenberg, which invests in companies in the Central European region, primarily in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland, Orchard is the first investment in real estate. "Orchard meets our main investment property criteria by providing a diverse mix of domestic and international tenants, as well as a strong and stable cash flow. We will continue to collaborate on the project with the experienced management company Red Group," said Hartenberg's chief analyst Byron Barker.

According to him, the fund is examining the Czech and Slovak real estate markets and is looking for further investment opportunities. "Our goal is to invest in several more properties in the office and shopping center sector in the coming year or two, based on the current market situation," said Barker.

The Hartenberg fund has approximately five billion crowns at its disposal. It invests in companies valued between 40 million and 200 million euros.

Batalová stated that since its establishment in 2013, Hartenberg has entered three major areas of investment. The first is FutureLife, a leading Czech and Slovak network of clinics focused on assisted reproduction and genetics. The second area is the biotechnology company Imunoglukan, and the third is Good Food, a significant European producer of rice waffles.