* Developer applies for creditor protection
* Says to open discussions with creditors, investors
* Prague stock exchange to halt Thursday trade in shares
(Adds more details, quotes)
PRAGUE, March 26 (Reuters) - Orco Property Group <>
(OPG) has filed for court protection from creditors as it
struggles to unload assets and get back loans from some of its
units, the real estate developer said on Thursday.
Orco <ORCO.PA>, which is based in France but operates in
central and eastern Europe, said the market conditions are
making it difficult to sell property assets and it was having a
difficult time getting back loans from some of its subsidiaries.
It also faces payments to banks to extend credits maturing
in 2009, the group said.
"Backed by (the protection), the management of OPG will have
the time needed to restore the group's financial health and to
advance the discussions we have already started with our
financial partners," Jean-Francois Ott, Orco's chairman and CEO,
said in a statement.
"We are convinced that within the framework of this
procedure, the full range of measures we are taking and the
expected positive impact of our many projects underway,
the group will be well placed to emerge from the economic
crisis," he said.
The French protection procedure is for a renewable six-month
period, Orco said.
Central Europe's property markets have come under strain in
the global slowdown and banks have tightened lending conditions,
hurting developers who had aggressively invested in the region
in recent years.
Orco has been facing problems since last autumn. The
Luxembourg-registered company, focusses on office and
residential development the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary,
Poland, Germany and Croatia.
The group reported full-year revenues of 299 million euros
($405.9 million) in 2008, up 10 percent, and said it expected
revenue of at least 277 million euros this year.
It sold assets worth 186 million euros last year, it said in
the statement, and refinanced 100 million euros of the 188
million euros of debt that is due in 2009.
Orco shares have shed 89.4 percent of their value in the
last 12 months, much worse than a 45.8 percent drop in Prague's
main index <>.
The Prague bourse said it suspended Orco shares on Thursday.
The stock fell as much as 11.5 percent in Warsaw and was down
7.5 percent at 0909 GMT.
(Reporting by Jana Mlcochova; Editing by Sharon Lindores)
($1=.7366 Euros)
($1=3.356 Zloty)
