9th Jan 2008 07:30
Plaza Centers N.V.09 January 2008 9 January 2008 PLAZA CENTERS AWARDED Aa3 RATING TO RAISE UP TO $330 MILLION OF NEW DEBT BY MIDROOG LTD, AN AFFILIATE OF MOODY'S INVESTORS SERVICE Plaza Centers N.V. ("Plaza" or the "Company"), a leading emerging marketsproperty developer, today announces that MIDROOG ltd., The Israeli Credit RatingAgency and an affiliate of Moody's Investors Service, has approved a rating of "Aa3" on Moody's scale for Plaza to raise new debt up to the amount of US$330million, on top of the current US$70 million which were raised in July 2007 andis also rated Aa3 by MIDROOG ltd. As announced on 13 December 2007, Plaza's Board of Directors has authorized thefiling of a draft prospectus with the Israeli Securities Authority and the TelAviv Stock Exchange ("TASE") in connection with a potential offering to thepublic in Israel of unsecured non-convertible Series B Notes ("Series B Notes")and their listing on the TASE. The prospectus will also be used to listapproximately New Israeli Shekels ("NIS") 305 million (approximately EUR 53.3Million) of unsecured non-convertible Series A Notes for trade on the TASE.These were originally issued by Plaza to investors in Israel in a privatetransaction in July 2007 ("Series A Notes"). The Series A Notes bear an annualinterest rate of 5%, which will be reduced to 4.5% once they are listed fortrade on the TASE. Plaza now has the financial flexibility to issue additional corporate bonds inorder to finance its continued growth, as an alternative to raising fundsthrough the equity markets. In the event that the Company decides to proceedwith an offer of further corporate bonds, it anticipates that its bonds would belinked to the Israeli Consumer Price Index, while the exact rate of interestwould be determined at tender. As the Company's functional currency is the Euro, if bonds are raised theCompany intends to hedge the future obligation to correlate with the Euro. A full copy of MIDROOG's report is available at http://www.plazacenters.com/financial_reports.html (Currently in Hebrew; an English translation will be available shortly.) Should an offering of Series B Notes be made, it will be made to persons in Israel only. Commenting on the rating, Ran Shtarkman, President and CEO of Plaza Centers,said: "We are very pleased to have been rated Aa3 by MIDROOG ltd., the Israeliaffiliate of Moody's and one of the two leading recognised rating agencies inIsrael. This rating reaffirms the continued confidence shown by a neutralinternational rating agency in Plaza's performance and successful track recordwhich has been built up over more than eleven years. "During this period, the Company has developed and let a total of 26 shoppingand entertainment centres and successfully sold these assets to majorinternational investors. "If the bonds are issued, we expect it to be at a very favourable interest rate.The Aa3 rating enhances Plaza's ability to achieve its future objectives, and tofurther diversify and enrich the Company's portfolio through the development ofhigh quality shopping and entertainment centres and other mixed used projectsboth in the Central and Eastern Europe and India." For further details please contact: Plaza Centers N.V. Mordechay Zisser, Chairman +972 3 6086000 Ran Shtarkman, President and CEO +36 1 462 7221 Roy Linden, CFO +36 1 462 7105 Financial Dynamics Stephanie Highett/ Laurence Jones +44 20 7831 3113 Notes to Editors • Plaza Centers N.V. (www.plazacenters.com) is a leading emerging markets developer of shopping and entertainment centres. It focuses on constructing new centres and, where there is significant redevelopment potential, redeveloping existing centres in both capital cities and important regional centres. The Company is dual listed on the Main Board of the London Stock Exchange and, as of 19 October 2007, the Warsaw Stock Exchange (LSE:"PLAZ", WSE: "PLZ/PLAZACNTR"). Plaza Centers N.V. is an indirect subsidiary of Elbit Imaging Ltd. ("EIL"), an Israeli public company whose shares are traded on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Israel and the NASDAQ Global Market in the United States. • Plaza Centers is a member of the Europe Israel Group of companies which is controlled by its founder, Mr Mordechay Zisser. It has been active in real estate development in emerging markets for over 11 years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Plaza