Aura sells off Romanian shopping center holdings

Aura Investments is continuing to slash its debt.

The firm, which is controlled by Boaz Misholi and Joseph Saliah, has signed a deal with GTC, part of the Kardan group, for the sale of part of its stake in their jointly-held firm, NCC, which owns shopping centers in Romania.

According to the agreement between the parties, Aura's stake in NCC will decline to 13% from 50% in exchange for the forgiveness of 13.6 million euros (about NIS 70 million) in debt.

The deal follows a number of other steps that Aura has taken to improve its debt-to-equity ratio as well as the ratio of debt to assets in its balance sheet.

The moves included conversion of bonds to stock and the reduction of debt on bonds from about NIS 300 to a current level of about NIS 120 million.

Aura's management has expressed the belief that the international economy, especially in the United States, is recovering from the financial crisis, and sees the coming several years as an opportunity for expansion.