Cocor Shopping Center in Bucharest under forced execution by bank, sale set for November

Romanian lender BCR has put out for sale the shopping center Cocor downtown Bucharest, through forced execution. The bid, announced to the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where Cocor's sales are floating, will take place on November 16, at a starting price of almost EUR 30 million. The technical expertise assessed the shopping center at EUR 42 million, but BCR requested the price to be taken down at EUR 30 million.

Cocor appealed the sale decision in court and is currently negotiating with BCR in order to reach an agreement and save the shopping center from the low price sale. From June this year, Cocor paid BCR some EUR 1.25 million on account of its debt and says it can pay additional sums if an addendum will be added to the mortgage loan contract. Previously, the shareholders of Cocor announced their plan to sell the shopping center for some EUR 50 million to avoid the forced execution. They were planing to raise the money and repay the loan taken in 2009 from BCR. The loan from BCR stays at EUR 19 mln, according to previous data, and it was used to revamp the shopping center. Cocor Shopping Center made a EUR 8.2 million loss last year, which is why BCR mentioned the forced execution in the past. editor@romania-insider.com