AFI Europe re-finances largest Romanian shopping mall

Israeli group AFI Europe Romania signed the documents for refinancing by up to EUR 300 million its AFI Cotroceni Park in Bucharest, the most valuable asset of the company in Romania and the largest shopping mall in the country. The company estimated the value of its shopping mall at EUR 501 million in 2017. The refinancing was carried out with Austrian groups Erste and Raiffeisen, and their Romanian subsidiaries, BCR and Raiffeisen Bank, local Profit.ro reported. The lenders refinanced a credit given to the Israeli group four years ago. In 2014, Austrian groups Erste and Raiffeisen, together with German pbb Deutsche Pfandriefbank, refinanced the mall with EUR 220 million in one of the largest loans obtained by a player in the local real estate market. The balance of this credit is now EUR 185 million. German lender Hypo Real Estate (which later became pbb Deutsche Pfandriefbank) financed the mall's development in 2008 with a EUR 234 million loan. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: the company)