Last Thursday, Africa-Israel Properties Ltd. (TASE: AFPR), a unit of Lev Leviev's Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) inaugurated a new mall in Ploiesti, Romania, 55 kilometers from the capital of Bucharest. The mall, held through AFI Europe NV on land owned by the company, was built at an investment of €70 million, of which €30 million was financing from Raiffeisen Bank International AG. The 48,000-square meter mall has 33,000 square meters are for rent, entertainment, and parking. The mall, which was built in 16 months, was inaugurated with 98% of the space leased, and 60,000 visitors on the first day.
The AFI Palace Ploiesti joins the AFI Palace Controceni mall in Bucharest, considered Romania's leading mall. Africa-Israel Properties is building malls in Israel, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Moscow. Africa-Israel wholly owns the AFI Palace Ploiesti and rental income is projected at NIS 20 million a year.
"The AFI Palace Ploiesti is a prominent addition to Africa-Israel's portfolio in Romania," said Leviev at the inauguration. "This project demonstrates Africa-Israel's capabilities as a developer in building large projects in Israel and overseas, and follows the construction of projects on the company's land reserves."
"Ploiesti, which has 260,000 residents, is the center of Romania's oil and gas industry. It is considered one of Romania's wealthiest cities, and has wide economic and social gaps - alongside carts and horses, which are the transport of the poor, you can see luxury cars.
Africa-Israel Properties, which has a market cap of NIS 1.46 billion, is the main operating arm of Africa-Israel, which faces a challenging financial situation. Africa-Israel's bond debt (solo) is NIS 2.6 billion, of which NIS 740 million is due by the end of 2014. The company had just NIS 140 million in cash at the end of August.
The author was a guest of Africa-Israel in Romania.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on October 7, 2013
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