The W. P. Carey Group Completes Third Sale-Leaseback with OBI

Investment firm W. P. Carey & Co. has acquired a retail facility in Wroclaw, Poland, from German do-it-yourself retailer OBI, it reported. The $14 million deal is the third sale-leaseback W. P. Carey has arranged with the OBI Group over the last two years, providing more than $200 million in financing to the German Do-It-Yourself retailer.One of the leading DIY retailers in the world, OBI currently operates more than 500 stores in Central and Eastern Europe and is looking to further expand in this region. “The sale-leaseback and build-to-suit transactions we’ve completed with W. P. Carey have played a significant role in supporting our growth initiatives over the past two years,” said OBI CEO Sergio Giroldi in a statement. Added Edward LaPuma, president of W. P. Carey International, “We love doing follow-on transactions with solid companies like OBI.” W. P. Carey has been an increasingly active sale-leaseback financier in Europe. In 2007, the Company completed more than $650 million in transactions in Germany, Finland, France and Poland.