Loan agreement signed for Okhta Mall shopping centre, under construction in St. Petersburg


Espoo, Finland, 2014-09-17 15:00 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SRV GROUP PLC     PRESS RELEASE     17 SEPTEMBER 2014 AT 16.00

The Okhta Mall shopping centre, which is under construction in St. Petersburg, and Sberbank have signed a 112.9 million euro loan agreement for financing the shopping centre investment. The shopping centre is owned by Russia Invest, which is an investment company consisting of Finnish institutional investors, and SRV. SRV’s direct ownership of the project is 45 percent. In addition, SRV owns 27 percent of Russia Invest.

The project’s current budget is approximately 225 million euro. The investment budget has decreased from the original 250 million euro, largely due to construction cost savings resulting from the weakening of the rouble. The target level for the shopping centre’s annual rental income is approximately 33 million euro. The investment will be financed by the owners’ capital investments of approximately 115 million euro and the now-signed bank financing. Construction of the shopping centre began just over a year ago and it has proceeded according to plan. Okhta Mall is expected to be completed in spring 2016. 

“We have developed the project for several years. A year ago, we launched this first phase of the Okhta City complex. Now the second shopping centre built by SRV and financed by Finnish investors and a Russian bank is being contructed in St. Petersburg. The agreement is significant for our Russian activities. Securing financing for the project in the present global political situation shows that a foreign company can still operate in Russia when operations are based on local resources and a local operating environment,” says SRV’s President & CEO, Jukka Hienonen.

Okhta Mall, located in the Okhta district of St. Petersburg city centre, is targeted at average consumer families who are seeking good quality and reasonable prices. The shopping centre will include, among other things, a hypermarket, a large cinema complex, a food court, a fitness centre, speciality outlets, such as a large children’s goods store, and various fashion and sports shops.

Of the shopping centre’s leasable 77,000 m2 of premises, around 25 percent has been leased or reserved and negotiations are under way for a further 40 percent. The shopping centre, which is served by good transport links, will have 1,900 parking spaces. The total area of the building is 145,000 m2.

The shopping centre will be Scandinavian in style and the latest international energy regulations and environmental standards will be taken into account in its construction.

“Our goal is to obtain a LEED Gold certificate for Okhta Mall, which requires, among other things, good energy efficiency. In our Pearl Plaza shopping centre, we have gained concrete experience of how much can be saved in operating costs when the design is done according to international standards.”

“We are really glad to support such innovative infrastructural projects that change the appearance of our city, improve the quality of citizens’ lives and contribute to the economy of the region,” says Vice Chairman of Sberbank North-West Aleksey Melnikov.
SRV and a Chinese partner each own 50 percent of the Pearl Plaza shopping centre, which opened a year ago. The shopping centre’s monthly footfall increased to nearly 600,000 visitors in August.

The real estate investment company Russia Invest has the following shareholders: Ilmarinen, Sponda and SRV, each with a 27 percent holding, Etera, with a 13 percent holding, and Onvest, with a six percent holding. SRV is responsible for the development, design, tenant acquisition and construction of Okhta Mall.

SRV Group Plc
Communications
www.srv.fi

Further information:

Veli-Matti Kullas, Vice President, Project Development in Russia, tel. +358 40 501 5280