Park Plaza Hotels Europe and the owners of three of their London hotels have entered into a facility agreement together with Park Plaza Hotels Europe Holdings BV for the grant of a non recourse refinancing loan in the amount of £195 million.The companies have agreed to act as joint and several borrowers and Goldman Sachs International Bank as the lender in the deal.

The refinancing loan will be used for the repayment of outstanding loans granted by Bank Hapoalim to the Holding Companies - Bea Hotels NV and the Red Sea Hotels Group - as current joint owners of Riverbank Park Plaza, Victoria Park Plaza and the Sherlock Holmes Hotel by Park Plaza, in respect of their construction and renovation.

Mr Boris Ivesha, President of Park Plaza Hotels Europe, commented: “As operators of these high quality London hotels we are pleased with this new agreement. It further illustrates the true value that these properties have and having the support of a leading financial institution such as Goldman Sachs is a sign of what we have achieved as an operating company in recent years.”

This refinancing of three of its core properties will further boost Park Plaza Hotels Europe’s ambitious development plans - this year alone has witnessed the new management agreement for a 143 bedroom Amsterdam hotel in January and the opening of the stunning Wallstreet Park Plaza in the heart of Berlin at the beginning of March - and the company is set to announce the signing of more hotel projects imminently.

Construction work is also well under way for the company’s 396 bedroom Park Plaza County Hall in London which is due to open 2008 and work will shortly start on one of Europe’s largest conference hotels to open in decades, the 930+ bedroom Park Plaza Westminster Bridge which is due to open 2010.
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