ARETE concludes €80m refinancing deal with Raiffeisenbank

The investment and real estate group ARETE concluded an agreement with Raiffeisenbank for a loan of €80m to be used to refinance the portfolio of its second real estate fund (ARETE INVEST Podfond CEE II). The company will also use the funds for the development of new industrial real estate, while maintaining a safe LTV rate. "The €80m loan that's been provided demonstrates that our fund is stable even in the current moment, when the provision of new loans by banks is extremely slow – the trust by Raiffeisen absolutely confirms this," said Lubor Svoboda, co-founder of the ARETE group. He said negotiations for the loan took several months and that the final agreement was reached at the end of April. The new loan will simplify matters for the company as it replaces 11 individual credit lines and give it greater flexibility when financing new construction. The legal firm Kocián Šolc Balaštík acted on legal matters for ARETE while Raiffeisen was represented by Clifford Chance.