Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a EUR 181 mln facility to Bainbridge Capital Retail Properties for the refinancing of 13 retail properties across Central Eastern Europe (CEE). The transaction was closed on 21 December 2010.

Bainbridge Capital Retail Properties is a fund managed by international real estate fund manager, Aerium Group,

International law firm Salans, which advised the German bank, said this was one of the biggest retail financings in CEE during 2010.

The portfolio consists of 13 retail properties across CEE: three hypermarkets and two shopping centres in Czech Republic, four shopping centres in Poland and four hypermarkets in Slovakia, totalling around 247,000 m2. All properties are leased to or anchored by either Carrefour or Tesco.

Aerium originally acquired the portfolio from Carrefour in a sale-and-lease-back transaction in 2004. The portfolio also includes six properties in Turkey which Bainbridge refinanced with another lender earlier in the year.

Harin Thaker, head of Real Estate Finance International at Deutsche Pfandbriefbank said: 'Aerium is a long standing client of the bank and we are pleased to continue working with them in the Pfandbrief eligible markets in Central and Eastern Europe, which form part of our new lending strategy.'

Gary Maguire of Salans' Global Real Estate Group led a three-country Salans team that advised on the deal. 'To meet the needs of our clients, we have built cross-disciplinary teams across borders and jurisdictions,' noted Evan Z. Lazar, co-chair of the Global Real Estate Group at Salans.