The four-star Pullman hotel in Bucharest will be up for sale for some EUR 20 million in January next year, as part of wider debt reduction plan for insolvent owner World Trade Center Bucureşti, according to Mediafax newswire, which quotes sources close to the company.

Remus Borza, head of Euro Insol, the judiciary administrator of World Trade Center, said a sale was being taken into account, but would not further comment on it, according to Mediafax. He said the reorganization plan would include many measures to recover debt, including selling assets, but the decision would be made by the lenders' group in the first quarter of 2014. Pullman has 188 rooms and 15 apartments, and is run by the Accor group. The hotel used to run under the Sofitel brand until 2009, when it was re-branded as Pullman, part of the same hotel chain.

World Trade Center has a debt of some EUR 90 million, with Romanian investment fund Fondul Proprietatea the bigger lender, which needs to recover 85 percent of that sum, and the Bucharest City Hall next on the list. Fondul Proprietatea took over the World Trade Center debt from the former Authority for State Assets Recovery – AVAS – which in turn had taken over the debt from the Finance Ministry. The Ministry had offered guarantees for a loan in 1991, which World Trade Center had failed to pay.

The hotel was built 20 years ago by a group of Romanian and foreign companies, which had invested USD 100 million in the compound, which also includes an office building, a retail galleria and a conference center. The main shareholders in World Trade Center had been at the time Bouygues, Debarth and the former bank Bancorex.

The shareholder structure has since been changed, and now includes Fondul Proprietatea with almost 20 percent, the Romanian Chamber of Commerce – 6.2 percent, the Bucharest City Hall – 5.15 percent, airline Tarom – 2.6 percent, Bouygues Batiment International – 21.5 percent, Debarth – 20.23 percent, Financiara – 7.9 percent, Astra – 5.7 percent, TC Carpaţi – 3.43 percent, and SIF Muntenia – 2.68 percent.

World Trade Center had a turnover of some EUR 9.3 million in 2011, and posted a loss of EUR 3 million, according to the most recent data from the Finance Ministry.

editor@romania-insider.com