"Unicredit", playing both ends of the deal involving the acquisition of the first bankrupt mall development project

The buyer of the first bankrupt mall development project, which is seeing its deal contested, received the moneyh to acquire the project from the same bank that financed it in the first place.

"Shopping Center Holding", a company controlled by Puiu Popoviciu, paid on August 17th, the amount of 30.5 million Euros plus VAT for the purchase of the first bankrupt mall that the company called "MLS Proiect" developed in Oradea.

Andreea Anghelof, the representative of bankruptcy practitioner "Casa de Insolvenţă Transilvania", which has been appointed as bankruptcy trustee of "MLS Proiect Oradea", the developer of the mall, said: "The money for the acquisition of the project was transferred to the account on August 17th, because today (ed. note yesterday) was the last day of the 60-day deadline to pay for the acquisition of the real estate project".

She said that the main creditor of "MLS Proiect Oradea" is "Unicredit Ţiriac Bank" and that a decision will be made soon concerning the distribution of the amount that "Shopping Center Holding" paid to acquire the project.

According to data from the Electronic Archive for Real Estate Guarantees, it was "UniCredit Ţiriac Bank" again that lent 46.7 million Euros plus 37.8 million lei, to the company controlled by Puiu Popoviciu. "Shopping Center Holding", "Karias Trading Ltd" (the majority shareholder of the company) and Dumitru Ciocoiu (the administrator of the company and a minority shareholder) have guaranteed the loan by pledging the accounts opened with "Unicredit Ţiriac Bank" and have assigned to the bank any future receivables (rents, performance guarantees, the insurance policies for the project).

Other guarantees of the contract concluded with "Unicredit" on August 16th, are the shares that "Karias Trading Ltd" and Dumitru Ciocoiu own in the company "Shopping Center Holding", the all-risk insurance policy of the mall, as well as the mortgage on the remaining works that need to be performed to complete the project in Oradea.

In an exclusive article published on June 21st, BURSA revealed that that the company "Shopping Center Holding" is officially controlled by a company in Cyprus, "Karias Trading Limited", and is led by Dumitru Ciocoiu, one of the administrators of the companies controlled by Puiu Popoviciu.

The company that acquired the mall in Oradea is headquartered in Bucharest, at the same location as "Băneasa Investment", which is developing the largest real estate project of Puiu Popoviciu, as well as the largest in Romania.

The shares of "MLS Proiect Oradea" are divided equally between "Lazybush Developments" AG of Switzerland and "McCabrey McCall" LLP of the UK. "MLS Proiect Oradea" was declared insolvent in November 2009, at the request of "Gauss Topo" SRL Oradea, specializing in construction works, and the Court of Bucharest appointed the insolvency practitioner "Casa de Insolvenţă Transilvania SPRL" of Cluj as bankruptcy trustee. The developer of the Oradea mall, "MLS Proiect", took out two loans in 2008, from "Bank Austria Creditanstalt" AG and "Unicredit Ţiriac Bank", of 58 million Euros and 25.2 million lei. "MLS Proiect Braşov" and "McCabrey McCall" took another loan from "Banca Comercială Română" (BCR), for which they pledged half the shares in the project. The surety for the latter loan is "Lazybush Developments" AG.

The real estate project of Oradea, which is nearly 85-90% complete, comprises a plot of land of nearly 70,000 sqm and a building with basement, ground floor, one floor and roof structure.