McCabe buys leisure park for €60m

A property company led by high-tech entrepreneur Bill McCabe has bought a German leisure park for €60 million, or just over a 10th of the development's original cost.

LNC Property Group, which Mr McCabe chairs, has bought the giant Space Park complex in Bremen, north Germany.

The group did not say yesterday how much it paid for the property. However, industry sources estimated that the bill was €60 million.

The Space Park was developed at a cost of €500 million and consists of 26 hectares which house shopping malls, leisure parks, a multi-screen cinema and Imax screen, nightclubs, restaurants, a hotel and other related facilities.

It was built on a derelict shipyard in the Gropelingen district of Bremen.

LNC was able to buy the property at a discount from its original investors, which included Dresdner Bank, after it went through the German equivalent of insolvency procedures. Sources yesterday blamed delays in completing the project and poor management for the difficulties that forced it to the wall.

The park was controversial for other reasons. Bremen's regional authority contributed €12.5 million to the project in 1999 in the form of a long-term loan which charged interest at well below normal commercial rates.

Following a complaint, the European Commission ruled that the loan was effectively state aid and was contrary to EU competition law. It ordered that the cash be repaid.

The project's other backers were shopping centre developer KanAm Euro Malls, Kollman AG and Space Park Developments GmbH.

LNC said yesterday that the complex had potential for further development.