Focus Estate Fund has received refinancing from BNP Paribas Bank Polska for its Polish portfolio of retail assets, shopping centres Galeria Sandomierz (Sandomierz) and Galeria Awangarda (Bartoszyce) with a total area of more than 10,000 square meters.
“Refinancing will not only generally increase profitability and improve the performance of our portfolio but will also allow us to implement the Fund’s strategic plan for new acquisitions in Poland in 2020. In particular, now we are already looking in the direction of mid-sized retail facilities with an area of 30,000 square meters,” commented Maxim Shkolnick, Partner of the Fund.
“We’ve chosen a conservative strategy in our communication with the bank in terms of the loan to value ratio which allows us to carefully look at rates and possible future risks. In the process of obtaining refinancing, BNP Paribas Bank Polska was not only a financial services provider for us but also demonstrated the effect of smart money by providing advisory support and recommending risk-reducing management decisions, some of which we have already implemented,” he also said.
Focus Estate Fund’s portfolio consists of three shopping centres in Poland (in Sandomierz, Zgorzelec, Bartoszyce) and two in the Czech Republic (in Most and Ostrava) with a GLA of 34,000 sqm.
