pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a 181-million facility to Bainbridge Capital Retail Properties, a fund managed by international real estate fund manager, Ærium Group, for the refinancing of 13 retail properties across Central Eastern Europe (CEE). The transaction was closed on December 21, 2010.
The portfolio consists of 13 retail properties across CEE: three hypermarkets and two shopping centers in Czech Republic, four shopping centers in Poland and four hypermarkets in Slovakia, totaling around 247,000 m². All properties are leased to or anchored by either Carrefour or Tesco. Ærium originally acquired the portfolio from Carrefour in a sale-and-lease-back transaction in 2004. The portfolio also includes six properties in Turkey which Bainbridge refinanced with another lender earlier in the year.
Harin Thaker, Head of Real Estate Finance International at pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank said: "Aerium is a long standing client of the bank and we are pleased to continue working with them in the Pfandbrief eligible markets in Central and Eastern Europe, which form part of our new lending strategy."
Franck Ruimy, CEO of Ærium Group, added: "We are very pleased to have completed this successful transaction which represents one of the largest retail based asset refinancings during 2010. This was a complex transaction because of it size and the number of jurisdictions it encompassed but the underlying assets comprise very high quality, well let properties which continue to benefit from strong appetite and liquidity.
"pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank demonstrated strong local market knowledge and an astute early commitment to this transaction. We are pleased to have them as our funding partner and look forward to partnering with them again across our 7-billion portfolio of assets under management."
Source: Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG
