EBRD to lend 59.7 mln euro to three Hystead units in SEE

The borrowers are Balfin MK Dooel, Delta M CG and Preduzece Delta City 67, incorporated in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, respectively.

They plan to use the financing to repay existing loans which will result in an improved and more sustainable capital structure and financing upgrades and/or expansion of their retail assets, the EBRD said in a statement on Monday. 

The borrowers are fully owned by Hystead Limited and own three retail and entertainment centres in their respective countries, namely Skopje City Mall, Delta City Podgorica and Delta City Belgrade.

The loan is a part of a larger financing package to the borrowers by EBRD and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the bank added.

Hystead is owned by Hyprop Investments Limited (60%) and PDI Investment Holdings (40%). Hyprop is one of Africa's leading specialist shopping centre real estate investment trusts (REITs) listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. PDI is a Mauritius-registered investment company, majority owned by Louis Norval, an independent non-executive director of Hyprop.

The shareholders set up Hystead in order to expand their portfolios into Southeastern Europe (SEE), which is in line with Hyprop's strategy to acquire or develop high-quality, income producing retail centres in emerging markets.

($ = 0.840706 euro)