The real estate company Ghelamco of businessman Paul Gheysens made a loss of 199.5 million euros in the first half of the year. That is more than expected, Gheysens says in a press release.
Ghelamco faced “challenging market conditions”, and had to accept losses on major projects in London and Warsaw. To strengthen its balance sheet, Ghelamco sold part of its real estate. The value of the portfolio fell from 2 to 1.3 billion euros in six months.
According to Gheysens, “a lot of time and resources have been spent in recent months on restoring the group’s financial position”. He says the larger-than-expected loss is “disappointing” in the short term, but “we are a long-term focused company and over the 35 years of our existence we have been through numerous market cycles from which we have emerged increasingly stronger.”
The Ghelamco CEO, known as a football investor at Royal Antwerp FC, is convinced that there is an agreement with the lenders that has stabilized the financial position and allows the company “to fully focus on our daily work again: delivering of fantastic real estate developments”.