Mirax Group has debt of about $550 million, more than half of which is due this year, and although the developer has some 400,000 square meters of property ready for sale, it's unclear whether buyers can be found.
Sources close to the developer and its creditors explained to the details Vedomosti. Of the total, $193 million is owed to banks, including $40 million that is overdue. Mirax owes 1.8 billion rubles in bonds, or roughly $60 million (of which $31 million is overdue), and $236 million in notes (of which $6 million is overdue), the sources said.
The rates on most of the loans are in the range of 12 percent to 18 percent. Developers now are generally content with rates of 11 percent to 13 percent for ruble loans, said Alexei Dobashin, chief executive of builder Krost. Marina Kolbina, an analyst at VTB Capital, put the figure at 13 percent to 14 percent.
Mirax's most recent loan — from Project Financing Bank — was at 29 percent and for just half a year. The company had said the loan was at 15 percent, but Vedomosti's sources denied that figure. Kolbina said the only reason to take a loan at 29 percent interest was the lack of any other options.
In 2010, Mirax must pay $297 million, of which $49 million is owed to banks, $3 million is on bonds and $230 million is on notes.
Mikhail Dvorkovich, an adviser to Mirax chairman Sergei Polonsky, confirmed that the group's overall debt was $550 million but declined to comment on the other figures.
Spokespeople for Mirax's creditors declined to comment.
Mirax PR director Irina Bartinovskaya said the company had 400,000 square meters of office space and apartments that is nearly or completely finished. She valued the property at $1.6 billion.
The group is also in restructuring talks with its creditors, Bartinovskaya said.
There's currently a surplus of office space in Moscow, said Anna Melnik, director of office research at CB Richard Ellis. Additionally, she said, Mirax now has a competitor to its Federation Tower in Moskva-City — the Imperia Tower complex will soon be completed.
There has been a recovery on the residential market, which may help Mirax, said Konstantin Kovalyov, a managing partner at Blackwood.
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