Trei Raises 73.5 Million Euros in Cross-Border Financing Arranged by pbb

Trei Real Estate (“Trei”), an international developer and asset manager of residential and retail real estate, secured another debt financing arrangement: The loan by Deutsche Pfandbriefbank AG (“pbb”) amounts to 73.5 million euros and has already been paid out. The fresh funds are split into two tranches: 13.8 million euros will mature in 2028, while the remaining 59.7 million euros will have to be repaid by 2030. The loan is secured by 61 retail properties in Poland that are let to the Biedronka retail chain. Most of the properties had previously been part of a long-term finance leasing structure, and are very well suited to serve as collateral because they are let to a retail company with impeccable credit rating on long-term leases. 

Matthias Schultz, the CFO of Trei Real Estate, commented: “Despite the currently difficult market cycle, we managed to coveclude yet another cross-border financing arrangement. We are planning to use the funds primarily for our development activities.”

The financing arranged by pbb brings the company’s debt ratio up to 33 percent. Matthias Schultz added: “We are planning to take out further loans this year, so that our LTV ratio will be around 40 percent by the end of 2023. In the long term, we continue to aim for a maximum LTV of 50 percent. While borrowing costs have gone up significantly over the past year and a half, we have not revised our expansion strategy.” 

Dieter Knittel, Head of CEE, RE Finance Intern. Clients, UK, CEE & USA at pbb, said: “We are glad we were able to support Trei, one of the biggest portfolio owners of retail real estate in Poland, in the expansion of its activities on the Polish market once again. Given such a robust portfolio of discount supermarkets let to good conditions, we are willing and able to arrange financing deals in Central and Eastern Europe even in difficult market cycles.”

The first time that Trei took out a cross-border loan from pbb was in 2020. The collateral provided at the time consisted of 40 Biedronka supermarkets in Poland. In addition, the company repeatedly signed large-volume facility agreements in the recent past. For instance, it borrowed c. 40 million euros in December 2022 to refinance its retail parks in Poland. Just a few months later, in March of 2023, Trei secured a credit line over 43 million euros.