Tel Aviv-based property group Habas said that its 74%-owned subsidiary, Habas Star, has been repaid a subordinate loan purchased back in April to finance the acquisition by Swiss bank UBS of the Wankdort Center mixed-use complex in Bern, Switzerland.

The loan, which was issued in June 2006, was repaid this week after UBS finalised the purchase of the retail and office scheme from German investor Karl Bartel, part of property group Ebertz & Partner. The credit facility is subordinate to a senior loan in the amount of CHF 230 mln, Habas said.

'This deal is an example of the complex, intricate deals in which the group has a distinct advantage due to its ability to manage the relevant properties and due to its great reputation with European banks,' the company said in a statement. Habas added that the purchase of property-based loans will become a strategic line of business within the group's activities along with the development and investment in commercial properties in Western Europe and the US.

'The group intends to actively seek similar deals,' Habas noted.

The real estate fund management arm of Swiss bank UBS closed the acquisition of the Wankdorf Center on May 27 for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition was made on behalf of UBS' Sima fund, with a 66% share, as well as the Swissreal property fund and the UBS Foundation for the Investment of Pension Fund Assets.

It involves the Wankdorf-Center shopping centre, plus the car park and all office, school and surgery space within the Wankdorf stadium complex. The football arena itself does not form part of the transaction. The scheme was built in 2005 by a partnership of Coop, Suva and Winterthur Life, which sold it a few months after opening to the Cologne-based investor Karl Bartel. Construction of the scheme represented an investment of some CHF 300 mln (EUR 250 mln).