Valad Europe has completed a €133 million refinancing of its Valad Polish Retail Fund (VPRF) with Landesbank Hessen–Thüringen Girozentrale (Helaba).
The loan is secured against six Polish shopping centre assets in VPRF: Korona Shopping Centre, Wroclaw; Tulipan Shopping Centre, Lodz; Ster Shopping Centre, Szczecin; Rondo Shopping Centre, Bydgoszcz; Kings Cross Praga Shopping Centre, Warsaw; and Kometa Shopping Centre, Torun.
Thierry Leleu, Valad Europe’s head of funds management, commented: “To have refinanced the six shopping centre assets is a great result for our investors in the Fund. We are delighted to continue our relationship with Helaba and are pleased that they have confidence, not only in the assets, but also in Valad Europe’s ability to manage them effectively.”
Karol Pilniewicz, Valad Europe’s head of CEE, added: “The refinancing follows the completion of a number of value enhancing asset management initiatives for the assets in the Fund; these included several refurbishment projects and the largest retail letting in Poland last year to Auchan and to Schiever Polska, who leased 170,000m² of space in assets across the portfolio. Also, at the end of last month, we sold the Krokus Shopping Centre in Kraków, on behalf of the Fund.”
The Valad Polish Retail Fund is a closed end fund comprising six first generation shopping centres and two hyper markets, totalling around 250,000m², located in six of Poland’s key cities including Warsaw and Wroclaw.
Valad Europe manages €4.7bn of real estate assets and investment capacity across its 24 funds and mandates in Europe. With a team of approximately 30 in Central Europe, Valad manages approximately €870m of assets comprising 730 tenants, occupying 985,000m² of space across Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania.
