WestImmo provides EUR 73m financing for Romanian mall deal

German property lender Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank has provided EUR 73 mln financing for Degi's acquisition of a shopping centre in the Titan area of Bucharest. Frankfurt-based Degi first announced the purchase of the Iris Shopping Centre for EUR 140 mln in June. The acquisition was carried out by SRL, a Romanian property company being integrated into special property fund, Degi Europe Retail fund.

The shopping centre has a gross floor area of 55,000 m² (with a lettable surface area of about 48,800 m2) as well as about 2,000 parking spaces. The property was developed in two phases, the first of these the erection of the Auchan hypermarket with adjacent shopping mall and the second a shopping centre extending over three floors. The Auchan hypermarket and the shopping mall are designed as a contiguous unit with a main axis in the middle.

Opened in November 2006, the hypermarket is let to Auchan Romania for 15 years while the shopping centre, which has a surface area of 14,000 m2, is let to national and international anchor tenants such as Starplex Cinema, Olympic Casino, Domo (an electrical retailer), Takko (a fashion store) and Springtime.