Rita Várnagy

Practice Areas

Rita Várnagy is a senior associate in the Real Estate practice group of Dentons’ Budapest office. Her practice primarily focuses on general corporate, M&A and real estate matters. She has been assisting on various transactions relating to acquisitions and corporate restructuring processes.

During her career Rita gained experience at multinational and mid-size law firms with international clientele, and also provided legal services at one of the Big Fours in Hungary.

Work Highlights

- Belgium-based real estate development company: Advising long-time key client on the development of the Green Court multifunctional project in Budapest, and on its subsequent sale. The project consists of a residential, office and retail complex with approximately more than 20,000 sq.m. of lettable space.

- Leading owner of income-generating real estate in the Czech Republic, Berlin Poland and the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region: Advising the client with a portfolio valued at over €20 billion, on the sale of their Budapest office buildings portfolio to S IMMO AG. The portfolio includes Gateway Office Park, Arena Corner, Andrássy Palace and five towers of BC99 Office Park, with about 110,000 sq.m. of lettable space.

- French portfolio management company: Advising the client, on their first ever investment in CEE and on the Hungarian market – the acquisition of ‘Freedom Palace’, a historic first-class office building in Budapest city center. Our work included advising the client on due diligence, transaction documents, structuring, W&I insurance and lease contracts.

- Leading Class “A” office building and shopping mall investor and developer in CEE: Advising on the sale of its Belgrade office portfolio to an American-Hungarian owned real estate investment manager. The portfolio covered 11 buildings within 5 business parks of a total 122,175 sqm gross lease area with high occupancy rates, located in the New Belgrade district; on the acquisition of the Ericsson and Siemens Evosoft Headquarters in Budapest from one of Hungary’s biggest real estate developer and investor companies; and on the acquisition of a new development project adjacent to its existing office buildings located in the Váci Corridor, one of Budapest’s largest and fastest growing office locations.

- Hungarian private equity fund owned and managed by an affiliate of the National Bank of Hungary: Advising on the acquisition from a leading private equity firm of a Dutch holding company that owns a 61 percent stake in a leading Class “A” office building and shopping mall investor and developer.

- Member of a leading Hungarian investor group: Advising on its sale of a prime office complex in central Budapest.

- A leading real estate investment firm: Advising on the acquisition of Sofitel Budapest Chain Bridge, a landmark 5-star hotel in Budapest’s city center from the largest hotel group in Poland and Eastern Europe.

- Property holding companies owned by an international, family-owned and independent financial group: Advising on the sale of a large development area on Üllői út in Budapest, to the Hungarian State. A sport complex will be constructed on the acquired land for the 2022 European Handball Championships.

- A major South African real estate investor and developer: Advising on the acquisition of a majority stake in the largest shopping mall on the Buda side of Budapest, from a leading global private equity firm.

- A global investment management firm: Advising in relation to its acquisition of Népliget Center, a prime office building in Budapest, from a Munich based real estate fund manager group.

- A leading real estate investment firm: Advising on the acquisition of a landmark 5-star hotel in Budapest’s city center from the largest hotel group in Poland and in Eastern Europe.

- A German asset manager: Advising on its €60 million acquisition of Kálvin Square and City Zen office buildings, totaling 26,000 sqm, in downtown Budapest.