Hungarian developer Futureal Group and Irish investment firm Caelum Development have secured a EUR 50 mln construction and investment loan from BZ WBK Bank for their Polish joint venture, the Nova Park shopping and entertainment centre in Gorzów Wielkopolski.

Nova Park, with 140 shops and close to 80,000 m2 of built area will be the largest regional shopping centre in the whole Lubuskie Voivodship region of Poland.

About 70% of the centre has been leased 10 months before the opening date and all the major anchors in place. The partners estimate the investment value of the centre will reach EUR 120 mln.

'Nova Park is the first step in Futureal's new strategy to provide equity and development expertise for regional development partners. The fact that we have been able to secure financing at very favourable interest rates reflects the strength of our balance sheets and the credibility of the joint venture partners,' said Gábor Futó, founder of Futureal.

Futureal is one of the leading developers on the Central and Eastern European property market, with EUR 1.6 bn of projects under development. Caelum Development - an Irish investment group with its headquarters in Warsaw, was established in 2002 by a group of private investors with 10 years' experience in the real estate market. Caelum Development operates in Central and Eastern Europe, principally in Poland, Romania and Germany.