Investment Update

RNS Number : 7023W

Carpathian PLC

24 November 2010

 



Date:	24 November 2010
On behalf of:	Carpathian PLC ("Carpathian", the "Company" or the "Group")
Embargoed until:	0700hrs

Carpathian PLC

Investment Update

Further to the announcement on 17 November, the Board of Carpathian PLC (AIM: CPT) is pleased to announce the signing of a conditional Share Purchase Agreement for the disposal of a portfolio of 6 supermarkets let to Konzum in Croatia.

The buyer is Corporate Property Associates 17 - Global Incorporated, a Real Estate Investment Trust managed by W. P. Carey & Co. LLC the American sale and leaseback specialist.

The only outstanding conditions to closing are administrative Land Registry processes and the sale is scheduled to complete in the last week of November 2010.

The portfolio is being sold for a total consideration, payable in cash upon completion, of €45 million plus an adjustment for net working capital which is not expected to be material. The consideration at the time of purchase in December 2007 was €53.7 million and the most recent independent valuation for the company at 31 December 2009 was   €46 million.

The portfolio is subject to a loan and an interest rate hedging instrument from Erste bank Austria totalling €40.7 million. After repayments to Erste bank and transaction costs, approximately €3.5 million of equity will be realised before any corporate taxation from the sale of which approximately €1.1 million shall be retained for 6 months to cover the buyer against any liabilities arising through misrepresentations by the vendor.

Following the sale, the annualised net operating income earned by the Company will fall by approximately €4.3 million.

The Company intends to review the cash proceeds required to meet its current working capital requirements in the context of the current sales programme and then to distribute as much as possible of these net proceeds to shareholders as soon as practicable in accordance with the previously declared intentions of the Board.

-Ends-

Enquiries:

Carpathian PLC
Rory Macnamara, Non-executive Chairman	Via Redleaf Communications
CPT LLP	020 7529 6413
Paul Rogers/Balazs Csepregi	[e-mail]
Collins Stewart Europe Limited	020 7523 8350
Bruce Garrow
Redleaf Communications	020 7566 6700
Adam Leviton	[e-mail]

Notes to Editors:

-	Carpathian was created in 2005 for the purpose of investing in Central and Eastern European commercial real estate.
-	Carpathian's primary focus is on shopping centres, supermarkets and retail warehousing in Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia
-	Carpathian was admitted to trading on AIM in July 2005.
-	CPT LLP is the Property Investment Adviser to Carpathian. CPT LLP owns 100% of Carpathian Asset Management Limited ("CAM").  CAM, which was previously owned 50% by the Company, became fully externalised when the Company and CPT LLP implemented the new portfolio management agreement on 1 March 2010. CAM, together with its parent undertaking, CPT LLP, is responsible for managing the core portfolio of assets and transactions within Central and Eastern Europe.

 

END

 

 

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