The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a €125 million loan with Umicore, a Belgian-based global materials technology and recycling group, to finance part of the greenfield production facility for cathode materials in Nysa, Southwestern Poland. The cathode materials will be supplied to battery manufacturers of high-tech lithium-ion batteries that are primarily used in electric vehicles. 

Governments continue to come up with measures to help stabilize the economy. Property Forum collected the latest efforts by CEE governments to rescue businesses and individuals affected by the coronavirus crisis.

As a result of the coronavirus outbreak, most CEE/SEE countries have introduced similar moratoria provisions to the Hungarian regulations, but there are several countries that have not yet taken this step. With the help of Dr. Gergely Szalóki, Partner at Schönherr Hetényi Law Firm, we provide an overview of the regulation of these regions' countries in respect of moratoria of bank loans.

Governments in the region keep introducing economic aid packages. Property Forum’s daily summary looks at the measures taken to ease the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on households and businesses.

HB Reavis has secured a €162 million loan from a consortium of four banks – Santander Bank Polska, Bank Pekao S.A., PKO Bank Polski S.A. and BNP Paribas Bank Polska S.A. – for the construction of its 78,000 sqm Forrest office campus in Warsaw.  

Globalworth has signed a preliminary sale and purchase agreement with Cavatina Holdings SA to acquire two office developments in Poland, in Warsaw and Krakow, on their completion scheduled for Q1 2020. The maximum transaction consideration for the two assets has been set at €185 million, with the final consideration to be determined on their leasing status at completion and after customary deductions. 

Dentons advised Raiffeisen Bank International AG and Raiffeisen Bank SA in connection with a €34 million facility agreement granted to VGP Park Timisoara SRL to refinance an industrial project, including four prime logistic buildings in Timis, Romania.

HB Reavis has received a new syndicated loan from Erste Group and Raiffeisen Bank International Group (RBI Group) for the construction and development of Agora Budapest. The recently signed facility amount of €140 million makes it one of the largest in the Hungarian real estate sector. The financing club is led by Erste Group as book-runner and facility agent. Erste Group and RBI Group will finance the Agora Budapest project with equal parts.

Following the financing agreements worth €51 million announced in January, Hungarian residential property developer, Cordia has signed further loan agreements worth €86.6 million. Futureal Group’s subsidiary has concluded the recent contracts with OTP Bank, Takarék Group and Sberbank in order to finance its 5 residential property projects in Budapest.

HB Reavis has received a syndicated loan of €175 million for the construction of the Nivy Station project in Bratislava. The loan is processed through a bank consortium of UniCredit Bank, Tatra banka, ČSOB and HYPO-BANK Burgenland, the transaction agent is UniCredit Bank. HB Reavis utilised the first part of the loan in December of 2018.