Asmita shareholder: The banks are helping us, but charging higher margins

Representatives of ECDC investment fund, which holds half of
the Asmita Gardens real estate project in Bucharest, say banks in
Romania and Bulgaria have been cooperative when it comes to
restructuring the loans granted, but boosted interest margins, as a
result of market terms worsening. The fund had to invest 4.8
million euros in additional funds to the Asmita Gardens project
this summer, and increased the construction loan from 51 million
euros to 70 million euros, as a result of the decline in apartment
sales. ECDC does not specify in its report the name of the funding
bank in Romania, but, according to data available, the fund is
working with Alpha Bank on the Asmita Gardens project. A total of
43.7 million euros have been drawn out of the 70 million, at an
interest rate of three-month EURIBOR plus 4%. “In both the Romanian
and Bulgarian markets, the banks have been supportive to developers
but at the same time are reflecting market conditions in the
pricing of their debt. With only one exception, the company’s
financing banks have increased the margins charged on current
facilities,” reads a financial report of ECDC, managed by UK’s
Charlemagne Capital. Representatives of the fund did not specify
which bank did not raise the interest rate