Jul 2022

Invel completes €600 million landmark refinancing

Invel Real Estate (“Invel”), the real estate investment and asset manager focused on south-east Europe and other selected European markets, has completed the refinancing of the facilities used to acquire its 95% share in PRODEA Investments SA (“Prodea”), the largest REIT in Greece.

The newly issued €600 million 15-year bond was fully subscribed by the National Bank of Greece (“NBG”) and Piraeus Bank.

Since the initial acquisition of a 66% share in 2013, Invel increased its participation in Prodea by exercising its call option in 2019, becoming the largest ever investor in the Greek real estate market. Over the last nine years, under Invel’s active steering, Prodea has increased its GAV from circa €900 million to circa €2.4 billion, whilst also returning in excess of €700 million to its shareholders.

The refinancing follows the successful launch by Prodea in July 2021, of the first ever green bond in Real Estate in Greece, with a 7 year maturity and a 2.3% fixed interest rate.

Chris Papachristophorou, Managing Partner and founder of Invel, said: “This refinancing is a hugely important milestone for Invel and comes at a key timing as Prodea has embarked on its new strategy to further enhance its exposure to energy efficient buildings and new generation logistics warehouses. Over a short period of time and against a backdrop of challenging macroeconomic conditions our team has secured a complex refinancing with two syndicate banks that is one of the largest European real estate financings this year.

This represents a strong vote of confidence in our investment model and vision and is testament to the track record we have established since, we entered the Greek market at a time of great turbulence when few had the confidence, insight or ability to invest.“