Macedonia's Balfin MK opens 70 mln euro Skopje City Mall - EBRD

The official opening of the three-level 86,000 square meter mall took place on Wednesday night, the EBRD said in a statement.

Skopje City Mall will have 130 stores and will be anchored by a 4,600 square meter Carrefour hypermarket and a multi-storey underground car park with around 1,200 parking spaces. The mall, located three kilometres west of Skopje's downtown, will also include a multiscreen cinema operated by Austrian movie theatre company Cineplexx.

Balfin MK has said it plans to attract 7.5 million visitors to the mall in its first year of operation.

Last year, EBRD provided a 18.9 million euro loan to Balfin MK to help finance the development, construction and operation of the mall. Further financing has been extended by Raiffeisen Bank and Komercijalna Banka.

Balfin MK is a 50/50 joint venture company set up by Fashion Group, the largest retail group in Macedonia, and Albanian-based Balfin, a leading regional retail and real estate development company.

($=0.7725 euro)