In a club deal, Helaba and pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank are providing a EUR 210 million refinancing and development facility to Immofinanz Group for the prime shopping mall Silesia City Center (SCC). Both banks acted as joint mandated lead arrangers, and Helaba as agent, on this transaction.
Helaba, pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Immofinanz Group see this as a landmark transaction in the current CEE real estate financing market. “The deal proves that, despite the difficult market conditions, financing agreements for first-class properties such as the Silesia City Center can still be successfully completed. We greatly appreciate the highly professional cooperation with the two financing banks and look forward to continuing our trustful partnership”, explained Eduard Zehetner, Chief Executive Officer of Immofinanz Group.
The Silesia City Center, acquired by Immofinanz Group in 2005 and refinanced by Helaba in 2008, is the largest and most modern shopping mall in the Upper Silesia region and the fifth largest shopping mall in Poland. Located in Katowice at 107 Chorzowska St., SCC started with 66 000 sq. meters of rentable space providing room for 250 retail outlets. Due to Silesia’s success and increasing interest by national and international retailers, the Center was extended by 20 000 sq. m. with an additional 60 stores let to high quality retailers such as Van Graaf, H&M, Smyk Megastore, Stradivarius, Massimo Dutti and KappAhl. The extension was opened in October 2011 and saw over 300 000 visitors within the first week.
source: Immofinanz Group
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