Certain loan repayments in re

RNS Number : 8948E

Equest Investments Balkans Ltd

31 December 2009

 



EQUEST INVESTMENTS BALKANS LIMITED

("EIB" or the "Company")

Certain loan repayments in respect of TMD

EIB announces, by reference to the restructured TechnomarketdDomo N.V. ("TMD") debt facilities detailed in its earlier announcement dated 16 July 2009 (the "Announcement"), that, through a wholly owned subsidiary, the Company has today repaid in full, together with all outstanding interest, its €12 million bridge facility (the "Bridge Loan") granted by a Bulgarian bank, ("the Bank"). This repayment was made as a result of the obligation to repay the Bank first out of the net proceeds of any sale of the Serdika and Rodacar properties, both of which sales were effected during the latter part of this year.

Further, AXIS Retail N.V., the parent of TMD, is today repaying to Raiffeisen Zentralbank Osterreich AG ("RZB") €3 million of the €20 million due to be repaid by 31 December 2009. This has been enabled by the specific waiver of the State General Reserve Fund of Oman ("SGRF") to its entitlement to such monies following the repayment of the Bank's Bridge Loan. It is thought likely that RZB will receive the balance of €17 million by way of a call on the Citibank, N.A., Sofia Branch ("Citibank") guarantee issued to RZB as part of the restructuring of TMD's facilities in the summer. In its turn, Citibank is then expected to look to SGRF to meet its obligations under a counter indemnity granted in respect to the Citibank guarantee.  The terms of the Citibank Guarantee, SGRF's counter indemnity to Citibank and the indemnity and security provided by EIB to SGRF were described in the Announcement.

EIB will issue a further announcement once the steps following the €12 million and €3 million repayments have been determined.

Commenting, Ian Schmiegelow, Chairman of the Board of Directors of EIB, said today:

"As previously announced, the Board of EIB is in active negotiations with respect to the Group's debt obligations and is pleased that the debt repayment obligations of TMD as at 31 December 2009 are being addressed. The Board appreciates that much still needs to be achieved to ensure a stable future for TMD, one of EIB's core assets. I will report early next year on the progress of the Board's efforts in this direction."

Enquiries:

Equest Investments Balkans Limited	Ian Schmiegelow (Chairman) Natalie Weedon	Tel: + 44 20 7630 3350
Financial Dynamics	Ed Gascoigne-Pees Nick Henderson	Tel: + 44 20 7269 7132
Collins Stewart Europe Limited (Nomad)	Hugh Field	Tel: [phone]
KBC Peel Hunt Limited (Broker)	Capel Irwin	Tel: + 44 20 7418 8900

-ENDS-

 

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