Plaza Centers has completed the sale of Liberec Plaza, a 17,000 sqm shopping center in the north of the Czech Republic, for €9.5m. Of that amount, €8.5m will be transferred to a Plaza Centers subsidiary which bought the loan outstanding on the mall last September. At least 75 percent of the remainder will be distributed to Plaza’s bondholders.
Plaza Centers CFO Roy Linden says it was a good deal for the company. “We bought the loan for Liberec Plaza at a significant discount of nearly €12 million late last year and have since enjoyed free cash arising from income and the release of restricted cash of circa €700,000. As a result of the sale, we have now delivered almost €1 million of surplus cash flow after the pay-back of the loan.”
Liberec Plaza was the last asset the company owned in the Czech Republic, and Linden said its sale was part of a larger strategy to exit its maturing assets in order to create liquidity for new investments in Serbia and Romania. The name of the buyer has not been revealed.
