ING lends €185m on Warsaw’s Blue City

ING Real Estate Finance has provided a €185m six-year refinancing facility for the Blue City shopping centre in Warsaw.

ING Bank NV and it’s Polish subsidiary, ING Bank Slaski, made the loan to Blue City, which is owned by Dutch property investor Singspiel Investeringen.

It is thought the owners opted to refinance the centre instead of proceeding with a sale for approximately €200m to CBRE Global Investors earlier this year.

It is ING’s second significant facility on retail assets in Poland in recent months. It refinanced the Bonarka City Center shopping mall in Krakow with a €193m loan in March.

That five-year senior facility was taken out by Hungarian developer TriGranit Development Corporation. TriGranit completed the 92,500 sq m centre, which is the largest in Krakow, in 2009.

Blue City, located in Warsaw’s Ochota district, is one of the largest mixed-use developments in Poland and comprises 66,430 sq m of retail space and 31,072 sq m of offices. It is fully leased to 200 retail and entertainment tenants. The two office buildings were let to a range of tenants including Deutsche Bank, Raiffelsen Bank and Saturn Media.

Retailers such as H&M and New Look opened in the mall last year after significant refurbishment work was completed. The landlord is also in negotiations with a cinema operator to open at the venue.

The owner, Singspiel Investeringen, is believed to be controlled by the Albert Nasser family, which has interests in real estate and banking. Singspiel Investeringen bought 51% of Blue City in 2002 but now owns the centre outright.

ING acted as mandated lead arranger, book runner and hedge provider in the transaction.