Plaza Regulatory News (PLAZ)

26 Feb 2007 10:09

Plaza Centers N.V.26 February 2007 26th February 2007 PLAZA CENTERS MAKES INDIA DEBUT WITH TWO JOINT VENTURE PROJECTS Plaza Centers N.V. ("Plaza" or the "Company"), a leading emerging marketsproperty developer, today announces that it has, through its two wholly ownedsubsidiaries, acquired two joint venture projects in India. • In the first transaction, Plaza has acquired a 50 per cent stake in an Indian limited liability company ("JV1"), which owns the freehold of approximately fourteen acres of land situated in the Kharadi district of Pune, Maharashtra State, India. The remaining fifty per cent of the stake of JV1 is held by a leading property developer in Pune. JV1 intends to develop its plot of land through the construction of a projecttotalling approximately 2.4 million sq ft (225,000 sq m) which will include: • a shopping centre with a total area of approximately 1.3 million sq ft (approximately 120,000 sq m); • an office complex measuring approximately 870,000 sq ft (approximately 81,000 sq m) and; • a serviced apartment facility of approximately 260,000 sq ft (approximately 24,000 sq m). The total investment in the project is anticipated to be approximately $175million (approximately £90 million). • In a second transaction, Plaza has acquired a 100 per cent shareholding from its controlling shareholder, Elbit Medical Imaging Ltd. ("EMI") of a subsidiary company which holds a 50 per cent interest in another Indian private limited liability company ("JV2"). The remaining 50 per cent interest in JV2 is controlled by another of Pune's leading property developers. Plaza will repay EMI its original investment of Rs. 440,000,000 (approximately £5.1 million) in the project plus preliminary development costs which are not to exceed 5% of the investment. JV2 owns a plot of land measuring approximately six acres located in KoregaonPark, an up-market area of Pune. JV2 plans to construct a mixed-use scheme witha total area of 1,180,000 sq ft (approximately 107,000 sq m) which willcomprise: • a shopping centre with an estimated area of 830,000 sq ft (approximately 75,500 sq m); • an office building estimated at 350,000 sq ft (approximately 32,00 sq m). The total investment in the project is expected to be approximately $90 million(approximately £46.2 million). Commenting, Ran Shtarkman, the CEO of Plaza Centers, said: "We are pleased to have acquired our first strategic development projects inIndia. These mark an important step in establishing Plaza Centers' presence inIndia and confirm the intention stated in our Prospectus to expand ouractivities beyond Central and Eastern Europe. We look forward to bringingfurther transactions in India to fruition for our investors." - ENDS - For further details please contact: Plaza Mordechay Zisser +972 3 608 6000 Ran Shtarkman +36 1 462 7221 Financial Dynamics +44 20 7831 3113 Stephanie Highett / Dido Laurimore/ Adam Leviton Notes to Editors Plaza Centers is a leading emerging markets developer of shopping andentertainment centres, focusing on constructing new centres and, where there issignificant redevelopment potential, redeveloping existing centres, in bothcapital cities and important regional centres. The Company is an indirectsubsidiary of Elbit Medical Imaging Ltd. ("EMIL"), an Israeli public companywhose shares are traded on both the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange in Israel and theNASDAQ Global Market in the United States. Plaza Centers is a member of the Europe Israel Group of companies which iscontrolled by its founder, Mr Mordechay Zisser. It has been present in realestate development in emerging markets for over 10 years. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange