Dascalu: The first thing I think of in the morning are instalments

Businessman Iulian Dascalu, the biggest mall owner, but also one of the most indebted Romanian entrepreneurs, says he is feeling the pressure of instalments for the over 200m-euro loans he has underway, but rents collected from operating the four malls allow him to continue his business, investing around 260m euros in Palas mixed project of Iasi.

"The first thing I think of in the morning are loan instalments," says Dascalu smiling. "I developed the malls with the aid of banking loans. It would have been a problem if it hadn't been so. For all the market decline, though, cash flow is still positive, and the best proof is that banks are still financing us (for the Palas project of Iasi i.e.)," Dascalu stated.

In the past two years, at the height of the crisis, Dascalu has invested around 150m euros in the Palas project, due to be finalised next autumn.

Dascalu has borrowed tens of million euros for his projects, but expects to generate almost 27m euros from renting the four malls he owns in Cluj, Timisoara, Suceava and Iasi this year alone and for Palas projects 10m-euro annual revenues from retail and office space rental.