OREANDA-NEWS. September 29, 2011. The EBRD has raised EUR 69.6 million in long-term financing for the construction of a modern, energy efficient shopping mall in Surgut, a city of over 300,000 inhabitants at the heart of the oil-rich Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District in Western Siberia, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

The Bank is the lender of record for the full amount under an EBRD A/B loan structure and has taken a 10-year A loan of EUR 45 million onto its own books. In addition, a EUR 24.6 million B loan has been syndicated to UniCredit Bank Austria. The maturity of the B loan is seven years.

Although Surgut’s economic development and above-average household income are attractive for retailers and investors, it has long been under-served in terms of modern retail space. It is this gap which the Aura Surgut shopping centre – with a gross leasable area of over 63,000 square metres – aims to fill.

In 2010 Surgut recorded the highest GDP as well as the highest average monthly salary among Russian cities with a population of between 300,000 and 500,000.

Thanks to the energy efficiency techniques used in its construction, the Aura Surgut shopping centre will exceed Russian energy performance requirements by 25 per cent. This will enable it to emit 5,000 tonnes of carbon less each year than a standard building. The two-storey complex is due to be completed in the spring of 2013.

The borrower is JC Rialren, a closed joint-stock company incorporated in Russia and whose parent, Turkey’s Desna Gayrimenkul Yatirim, is ultimately controlled by the Ilicak family through Ronesans Gayrimenkul Yatirim, an experienced property developer with which the EBRD has already worked in Russia.

This new project will build on the success of the Aura shopping centre in Novosibirsk, also launched by the Ilicak family and its Renaissance Construction Group, and for which the EBRD raised EUR 60 million in 2009 at the height of Russia’s economic downturn through a similarly structured loan. Last summer, UniCredit Bank doubled its B loan participation in that project to EUR 40 million.