Multi swings back into the red in 2012

Pan-European shopping centre developer Multi Corporation swung back into the red in 2012 with a net loss of €4 mln.

The loss follows a profitable year in 2011 which in turn came after several years of negative results. After booking an operational profit of €112 mln in 2011, Multi turned in an operational loss of €18 mln last year.

Investment activities ended the year in positive territory, but booked a decline year-on-year.

According to Dutch financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad, the company posted 'significant losses' on projects developed on behalf of listed retail specialist Corio in Germany. Multi's centre management activities also ended the year in the red.

Multi entered the spotlight in April amid media reports that US private equity group Blackstone may be close to taking control of Europe's largest shopping centre developer due to liquidity problems relating to a €900 mln loan package.

According to well-informed sources, Blackstone has acquired almost half the €900 mln in corporate debt in the last nine months at a hefty discount of 50 cents per euro of debt.

In a follow-up interview Multi CEO Heino Vink stressed that the company was meeting its commitments on the loan. Earlier this year, well-informed sources told PropertyEU that Multi had managed to remain in the black in 2012. However, this information was based on the company's provisional results. As reported above, the definitive results revealed a loss of €4 mln.

Multi is an active developer, manager and owner of shopping centres in 14 European countries. The Dutch developer is market leader in Turkey with 10 existing centres and several more in the development or construction phase. In recent years Blackstone's European real estate arm has put together shopping centre portfolios in Poland and Turkey. Gaining control of Multi would give Blackstone a pan-European retail business.

The May edition of PropertyEU Magazine feature more on Blackstone and Multi.