CBRE GI sources €108m Czech loan

CBRE Global Investors has agreed a €108 million financing of a Czech market acquisition with pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank.

The German bank has provided a long-term loan to finance CBRE GI’s purchase of the Letnany Shopping Centre in Prague, which was bought from Tesco on behalf of a German separate account.

Letnany Shopping Centre is a 63,430 square metres retail scheme built in 1999. The scheme contains more than 160 retail units, as well as 3,550 square metres of office space. It is anchored by Tesco’s Czech flagship store. Other tenants include Cinema City, H&M, Datart, Zara and SportsDirect.

Pbb acted as arranger and sole lender of the facility, which closed in January.

“Letnany is a retail trophy asset, which nevertheless provides a number of asset management opportunities. This financing underpins our commitment to the Czech market, which has shown particular stability in recent years,” said Charles Balch, head of real estate finance international, UK & CEE at pbb.

Separately, pbb announced that it has placed a €500 million mortgage Pfandbrief issue, with a term of 4.5 years and a coupon of 0.05 percent per year, equivalent to a 6 basis points discount below the current reference swaps rate.

The majority of the issue was allocated to Germany, accounting for just over 74 percent, followed by the Nordics and Asia. The issue was managed by a syndicate comprising Barclays, Commerzbank, DekaBank, LBBW and Nomura.

The bank issued a £300 million mortgage Pfandbrief in the first week of January and increased an existing issue by £50 million to £550 million, meaning it remains the biggest issuer of Pfandbriefe in sterling.