The FINANCIAL — The EBRD and Banca Comercială Română (BCR) SA are joining forces to finance the expansion of the logistics park CTPark Bucharest West, some 20 kilometres from the Romanian capital. The financiers have arranged a package of €75.8 million, where the EBRD is providing €36.7 million and BCR €39.1 million.
The 100-hectare park is operated by the Romanian unit of the real estate developer CTP, which owns the largest portfolio of premium business parks in central Europe with over 3 million square metres of gross leasable area of class-A properties in over 60 strategic locations, according to EBRD.
BCR’s facility will refinance an existing loan for CTPark Bucharest West and the EBRD’s funds will finance the development of two new warehouses of over 70.000 square metre leasable area.
The two buildings will help CTP meet the increasing demand for warehouse space from existing clients as well as newcomers to the Romanian markets. The warehouses are expected to be certified under an internationally recognised scheme such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or BRE Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM).
Matteo Patrone, EBRD Director, Regional Head for Romania and Bulgaria, said: “We welcome CTP’s drive for green certification, which is not yet standard in the Romanian logistics market. Green leases are also a new feature in the logistics sector in Romania, which will not only benefit the cooperation with tenants but will strengthen CTP’s competitiveness in the market.”
Ana Dumitrache, Country Head of CTP Romania, added: “We are very pleased to reach this agreement that helps us take another major step towards making CTPark Bucharest West the most important logistics park in Romania, in terms of total surface, but also development pace and standards of quality. We aim to be a strategic park for the Romanian economy through the support we offer for significant investments, both foreign and local. This loan also represents the first cooperation between CTP and EBRD, alongside our long term financial partner, BCR (at local level) and Erste Bank (at group level).”
With a total planned 600,000 square meters lettable area, CTPark Bucharest West aims to become the biggest and fastest growing industrial park in the country and the region.
Sergiu Manea, CEO of BCR, commented: “We believe in CTP’s strategic call to develop high-tech business parks for leading international and domestic companies making strategic investments in central Europe and Romania. In particular we believe that we can support Romania’s competitive edge in the region by financing strategic projects in logistics infrastructure. We are thankful to CTP for offering the opportunity to be their financial partner in this project.”
BCR also acted as mandated lead arranger, documentation, facility and security agent.
BCR, a member of Erste Group, is the most important financial group in Romania, providing universal banking operations (retail, corporate and investment banking, treasury and capital markets), and covering specialty companies working on the leasing market, private pensions and housing banks. BCR is Romania’s number one bank in terms of asset value (over €14.8 billion), in terms of client base and in terms of savings and crediting.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Romania. It focuses on promoting stability and expanding products in the financial sector, strengthening infrastructure through improved efficiency and greater private sector involvement, as well as on restructuring the power sector and increasing energy efficiency and sustainability.
The EBRD has invested close to €7.5 billion in the country to date in almost 400 projects.
CTP is a full-service commercial real estate developer and manager, specializing in the delivery and management of custom-built, high-tech business parks for leading international and domestic companies making strategic investments in new or expanded operations in central Europe.
CTP is the owner of the CTPark Network, the largest integrated system of premium business parks in central and eastern Europe, with over 3.9 million m² of class-A properties in more than 60 strategic locations. In Romania, CTP is the leading warehouse developer and manager, with a gross leasable area of 615,000 m² of class-A warehouses in eight cities: Arad, Bucuresti, Cluj-Napoca, Deva, Pitești, Sibiu, Timișoara and Turda.
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