DLA Piper has advised Allianz and ING on a EUR 160 million syndicated loan for the financing of a portfolio of industrial properties owned by CTP, a commercial real estate developer and manager in the Czech Republic.
The loan serves both to refinance existing loans from a group of CEE banks and to finance new projects which have been completed in 2017. The refinancing with Allianz and ING is part of CTP's strategy to extend its network of financing partners, including seeking partners outside the CEE region.
The DLA Piper team advising the lenders on the deal was led by Prague-based Real Estate Partner Jakub Adam, who commented: "In any transaction of this volume, you are often confronted with many challenging legal and practical issues. We are delighted that thanks to the excellent cooperation with CTP, we could navigate our clients safely through all of the various challenges and be of assistance to ING, and particularly to Allianz in its first engagement of such significance in the Czech Republic." Adam was supported by DLA Piper Senior Associates Zuzana Slovakova and Marek Stradal. German law aspects of the transaction were coordinated by Finance & Projects Partners Torsten Pokropp and Frank Schwem, both based in Frankfurt.
Zdenek Raus, Financial Manager at CTP, said: "We are very pleased with today's closing between CTP, Allianz and ING. This new credit confirms CTP's efforts to expand our portfolio of financial partners to Western European institutions."
"This is our first financing of logistics real estate in the Czech Republic," said Roland Fuchs, Head of European Commercial Real Estate Finance of Allianz Real Estate. "With this transaction we both expanded our footprint in CEE and increased the logistic share in our European portfolio, not only by indirect investments in logistics funds but also by debt transactions."
Arie Hubers, Managing Director of ING Real Estate Finance, added: "We are very happy to be able to support the growth strategy of our longstanding client CTP through this transaction and to enhance our business relationship with Allianz in a concerted effort. The transaction shows our commitment to our clients as well as the CEE region."
