Echo Investment has concluded a loan agreement with a value of over PLN 700 mln with the British bank HSBC. The acquired funds – an investment loan of EUR 165 mln and a VAT loan of PLN 14 mln – will be used to refinance Galeria Echo in Kielce as well as for the construction of Tryton Business House in Gdańsk and Opolska Business Park in Kraków.

“This is the largest loan agreement in the history of Echo Investment. We are the first Polish company to have signed such a spectacular contract with this bank in the commercial real estate sector, so far HSBC has only granted loans to British entities in Poland. I am very pleased with our new financial partner and I hope that we will be able to meet HSBC bankers at Echo Investment"s next projects,” says Grzegorz Iwański, director of Echo Investment"s Funding Department. Galeria Echo is one of the largest shopping and entertainment facilities in Poland. Its total area amounts to 159,000 sqm, 70,000 sqm of which is earmarked for lease. Apart from over 250 shops and service outlets, customers can also use its extensive entertainment offer, including a 12-lane bowling alley, the largest fitness centre in the region as well as a multi-screen Helios cinema. Its multi-storey car park offers 2,300 spaces. Tryton Business House is a modern A-class office building which offers an area of 22,000 sqm. The facility is being developed at the junction of Jana z Kolna Street and Wały Piastowskie in Gdańsk. The office building will have its own underground car park and it will offer 262 spaces. The design by the Arch-Deco architectural studio of Gdynia also includes 72 sheltered parking spaces for bicycles, which is one of the requirements of the BREEAM certification. Cyclists will also be able to use showers, changing rooms and dryers. Opolska Business Park is being developed at one of the main traffic routes in Kraków. The project consists of three twelve-storey buildings as well as a ground-level car park and an underground car park. The total office area of Opolska Business Park amounts to 57,000 sqm. The project is being developed in three stages. The completion of the first building, which has an area of over 18,000 sqm, is planned for Q4 2015. HSBC Bank Polska S.A. is part of the HSBC group. The HSBC group provides services to clients all over the world in 6,200 outlets located in 74 countries and territories in Europe, Asia and Pacific, both Americas, the Middle East and Africa. With assets worth USD 728 bln on the 30th September 2014 HSBC is one of the largest financial institutions in the world. In Poland it focuses on banking services for corporate and institutional clients as well as treasury operations. www.hsbc.pl