Raiffeisen buys its own plots put up for liquidation

The Raiffeisen group bought a 124-hectare plot for 11 million euros in Crevedia commune, close to Bucharest, as a result of the liquidation of EFG Crevedia Development, which Raiffeisen had financed almost three years ago by acquiring the plot in view of developing a mega real estate project.
The price paid for the plot is 9 euros/square metre, 75% less than an appraisal made in 2008.
Raiffeisen had granted a 14.6 million-euro loan to EFG Crevedia Development in 2007, a company managed by British investors, which intended to raise cash to build over 6,000 homes, an almost two billion-euro mini city. The company later went bankrupt, and its main asset, the plot, was put up for auction.
The plot was purchased through Plusfinance, a member of the Raiffeisen International Group, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, liquidator of EFG. The name of the Raiffeisen subsidiary has recently been changed to Plusfinance Estate 1, with the shareholders of the company being RIRE Holding and RI Eastern European Finance (RIEF), registered in the Netherlands. The Austrian group had transferred a further 646 million euros in loans to RIEF until the end of 2008. Raiffeisen did not comment on the information by the time this issue was ready for print.