Italian lender Unicredit and local bank Komercní have agreed to provide project financing for the development of the Breda & Weinstein shopping centre in the historical centre of the northern Czech city of Opava.

The 26,000-m2 centre is being developed by Develon CZ, part of the Mint Investments Group, and the equity financing is provided by Dublin-based Avestus Capital Partners. The scheme will be built by re-developing a brownfield site of a former Zlatovar brewery and will bear the brand of a famous local department store with a tradition of over 100 years.

'We are very pleased to team up with currently the two most active banks on the Czech real estate market, especially at the times when development debt financing is scarce,' said Radim Bajgar, partner at Develon CZ. 'The strong combination of tenant interest, available equity and bank financing, and a favorable construction costs environment gives us a great opportunity to create and build this scheme even during a general economic downturn.'