SOURCES CLOSE TO THE SITUATION: "The Austrians of Strabag are asking for 140 million Euros for the Marriott building in Bucharest"

The Austrians of Strabag are asking for 140 million Euros for the building the Marriott hotel of Bucharest is operating in, according to sources close to the deal. Apparently none of the interested investors isn't willing to pay that price for the building located near the Parliament's Palace, as the best bid made is 120 million, according to the quoted sources.

They told us: "The 140 million Euros include the loan taken out by Grand SRL from a banking consortium and guaranteed by the state. That government guarantee is still valid, as the loan taken out at the time the business was built has been extended. The outstanding amount of the loan accounts for the bulk of the price that Strabag is asking for the Marriott building".

Nicolae Cinteză, the head of the Supervisory Board of the National Bank of Romania (NBR), told us, in April 2014, that Bank of Cyprus, before leaving Romania, sold its biggest asset in its portfolio, a loan of 110 million Euros granted to the company that holds the JW Marriott hotel of Bucharest.

The loan granted in 2007 was due in October 2012, but was extended in the autumn of 2013 for another five years, as the collaterals set up covered both the principal of 110 million Euros, as well as an additional amount of 33 million Euros pertaining to all the obligations following from the loan.

The loan was guaranteed with the plot of land of 28,457 square meters of Calea 13 Septembrie and the building of 69,307.58 square meters, which includes the JW Marriott Bucharest Grand Hotel and the related complex, with its retail areas, offices, casino, internal and external parking lot, as well as all the improvements made to the buildings put up as collateral, press sources say.

The 110 million Euros loan to the owner of the Marriott hotel is also guaranteed with 99.97% of the shares of Societatea Companiilor Hoteliere Grand SRL (SCHG).

The collateral also includes, according to the quoted sources, all of the Marriott contracts, including the management contract, the lease contracts, guarantees, insurance contracts, as well as all the future contracts.

The quoted sources have also said that among those interested in the acquisition of the hotel complex, there are several foreign companies, as well as Dedeman, a company with Romanian owners.

Yesterday, AFI Europe announced that it has received a notification from Dedeman, the potential buyer of the AFI Park 4-5 buildings, that it would not buy those two buildings, and would only buy AFI Park 1-3.

The representatives of Dedeman declined to comment on the matter.

Our sources told us that currently, there are still talks concerning the intention to sell the building in which the Marriott hotel operates, which has more than 400 rooms, and more then 10 conference rooms, restaurants and casino.

According to the quoted sources, Strabag, the sole shareholder of the company that manages the hotel complex of the Parliament's Palace, gets a net profit of approximately 10 million Euros a year, both from the hotel, as well as from the rents paid by the companies that rent spaces in its retail area.

Last year, the Strabag Group had a gross profit of over 30 million lei, and the net profit passed 20.8 million lei, up over 2015, when it stood at 14.77 million lei, according to data published by the Ministry of Finance. The turnover of Strabag, which employs 615 people, has passed 911 million lei, in 2016, from over 1 billion lei in, and the group has debts of 232.7 million lei.