December 1 (SeeNews) - Equest Investments Balkans said on Tuesday it has sold the former Rodacar auto factory in Varna, Bulgaria, to BA Creditanstalt Bulus, a wholly owned subsidiary of UniCredit Leasing Italy, for 9.934 million euro ($14.97 million) in cash after deduction of VAT.
Equest Investments Balkans (EIB) an investment company managed by UK-based Equest Partners. It said in a statement the sale of its Rodacar property was part of its continuing disposal of non-core assets.
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"The majority of the proceeds of this sale, together with EIB's share of the proceeds of the sale of the Serdika property and the consequent repayment by Equest Balkan Properties Plc to EIB of a loan of Euro 5.4 million (as previously announced), will be used to further reduce debt obligations of the EIB Group," the statement said.
Earlier this month EIB sold its minority interest in Serdika, a development site in the centre of the Bulgarian capital Sofia for 1.8 million euro ($2.7 million) and received 5.4 million euro ($8.1 million) loan repayment by Equest Balkan Properties Plc.
In June the company sold land holdings including Castle Golf Properties, comprising agricultural land plots in Romania, for 800,000 euro ($1.2 million), and its remaining 30% minority stake in Boyana Park Development, a residential development in Sofia, for 600,000 euro ($904,000).
EIB continues to negotiate with various banks serving its group companies to seek to restructure their related facilities.
The target region of EIB (www.equestinvestmentsbalkans.com) covers Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine, while the main countries of operation are currently Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia.
($ = 0.6637 euro)