The Plaza Centers Group was a property developer and investor with a focus on operations in Central and Eastern Europe (“CEE”) until the end of 2017. The Group has been present in the Central and Eastern Europe region since 1996 and was the first to develop western-style shopping and entertainment centers in Hungary. The Group has pioneered this concept throughout the CEE whilst building a strong track record of successfully developing, letting andselling shopping and entertainment centers. Since 2006, the Group has extended its area of operations beyond the CEE into India. In 2010, Plaza identified, with its joint venture partners, a window of opportunity for investment in the US as a result of the dislocation of the property market, specifically within the retail sector. In 2012, taking advantage of its qualities and experience in identifying opportunities, managing and exiting assets, gained over the years, the Group completed another significant sale of 49 US-based assets, mainly to a joint venture between Blackstone Real Estate and DDR Corp. In a transaction valued at US$1.47 billion, which reflects a ROE for the Group of nearly 50% in a period of little over 18 months.
Plaza has implemented debt restructuring plan that was approved by the Dutch court on July 9, 2014 and became final in November 2014 by the completion of a successful rights offering, which provided Plaza with a €20 million capital injection and marked an important final step in the restructuring process followed by A third listing on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
In line with the debt restructuring plan, Plaza repays 75% of proceeds from disposals to bondholders. An Amended Plan was agreed in November 2016 according to which, the Group agreed with its bondholders to amend the terms of the early repayment requirement under the original debt restructuring plan. During first three months 2017, the Company paid to its bondholders a total amount of NIS 191.7 million (EUR 49.2 million) as an early redemption. Upon such payments, the Company complied with the Early Prepayment Term (early redemption at the total sum of at least NIS 382,000,000) and thus obtained a deferral of one year for the remaining contractual obligations of the bonds. In January 2018, a settlement agreement was signed by and among the Company and the two Israeli Series of Bonds including among others: New repayment ratios, an increase in the level of the mandatory early repayments, new repayment schedule, a waiver of claims and to waive the request for publication of quarterly financial reports.
During 2017 and up to date, Plaza received net proceeds of €119.4 million from sales transactions and price adjustments. The focus of 2017 has very much been centred on our extensive disposal programme, as we continued with our efforts to decrease the Company’s debt and to meet the demands of the restructuring programme.
The Company is an indirect subsidiary of Elbit Imaging Ltd. (“EI”), an Israeli public company whose shares are registered for trade on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Israel and on the NASDAQ Global Select Market in the United States.
The Group has been present in real estate development in emerging markets for more than 22 years, initially pursuing shopping and entertainment center development projects in Hungary and subsequently expanding into Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Latvia, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria and India. To date, the Group has developed, let and sold 34 shopping and entertainment centers in the CEE region and India, with an aggregate gross value of circa €1.55 billion. 21 of these centers were acquired by Klepierre, a leading player in the continental European shopping center property market, which owns shopping center in 57 cities and 16 countries, with a property portfolio value of €23.8 billion as of the year ending 2017. Four additional shopping and entertainment centers were sold to the Dawnay Day Group. One shopping center was sold in 2007 to Active Asset Investment Management (“AAIM”), a UK commercial property investment group. The transaction had a completion value totaling approximately €387 million, representing circa 20% of all real estate transactions completed in Hungary in 2007. Kragujevac Plaza was sold in 2014 to New Europe Property Investments plc (today “NEPI Rockcastle plc”) a commercial property investor and developer, listed on the Main Board of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange Limited (JSE) and Euronext Amsterdam.
In 2017 Plaza announced the successful completion of the sale of Belgrade Plaza shopping and entertainment centre to a subsidiary of BIG Shopping Centers Ltd, a publicly traded company in Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Belgrade Plaza (Visnjicka) has been the largest development underway in Serbia. In addition Torun plaza mall in Poland was sold to a private investment fund, being the last operating asset.
In 2018 the Company remains focused on completing the disposal of the assets identified for sale and on delivering on its commitments to its stakeholders.
In Poland:
Lodz Mall - Expected to sign final agreement in March 2019 for the sale of 22% of the plot;
In India:
- Chennai - initiated an arbitration proceeding against the purchaser;
- Bangalore - amended revised agreement signed in March 2018 for the sale of the SPV. The Parties continue to discuss regarding getting further payments.
In Romania:
- Miercurea Ciuc - preliminary sale agreement signed;
- Brasov Plot - pre-agreement of the sale of a land plot in Brasov, Romania.
In Serbia:
- Belgrade Plaza - price adjustment is expected during 2019 and 2020.
Since 1 November 2006, Plaza Centers N.V.’s shares have been traded on the main board of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker “PLAZ”. From 19 October 2007, Plaza Centers N.V.’s shares are also traded on the main list of the Warsaw Stock Exchange under the ticker “PLZ”, making it the first property company to achieve this dual listing, and on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.
