Central European industrial park developer CTP has agreed a syndicated financing package of €1.9 bn for its Czech industrial portfolio with a consortium of three international banking groups.
The debt deal, which covers 200 buildings and some 2.7 million m2 of industrial space, breaks the CEE transaction record, according to CTP.
'The transaction volume of €1.9 bn makes the deal the largest ever real estate transaction in Central and Eastern Europe, not only the Czech Republic,' said CTP's chief financial officer, Richard Wilkinson.
The consortium includes Erste Group and its Czech business, Ceská sporitelna; UniCredit and CIB; and Société Générale working through Komercní Banka.
The seven-year loan package refinances €1.6 bn of existing properties, and extends €269 mln in new financing for projects that will be completed in the next 18 months.
'We are pleased to confirm our continued cooperation and deepened relationships with our core banking partners in concluding this milestone syndicated loan transaction. This deal secures our financing in the Czech Republic for the mid-term and will help us significantly in achieving our next goal of growing to 10 million square metres,' said Remon Vos, CTP Group CEO.
The transaction consolidates 40 existing loan agreements into one syndicated loan, CTP said.
'The new loan structure significantly simplifies our previous financing arrangements, making us fitter for the future. We can streamline loan administration and processing and benefit from secure funding of our industrial portfolio over the mid-term, in addition to development financing for the next 18 months,' added Zdenek Raus, CTP's chief financial officer for the Czech Republic.
'We are very pleased to have been able to support CTP in this historic deal that once again shows our ability to assist our clients with ground-breaking financial structures,' said Matteo Pietropoli, head of CEE financing at UniCredit and Slavomir Bena, head of CIB in the Czech Republic.
The legal side of the transaction was led on behalf of CTP by M&A and transactional lawyer, Kveta Vojtová, with support from the local CTP banking and corporate team.
