GIVEN the worsening economic and property market conditions in Cyprus, there are unfortunately many foreign and local property buyers who are facing increasing difficulty in honouring their loan commitments.
The situation has been compounded by the fact that a large number of loans were taken out in Swiss francs, a currency which has strengthened significantly in recent years versus the Euro and Sterling.
Evolution Property Partners (EPP), a specialist property advisory company, has tailored a service towards private borrowers who are facing distress, with the aim of undertaking to renegotiate and reset the loan terms with the bank on their behalf.
British-born chartered surveyor Kenny Evangelou is the Senior Partner of EPP, and has significant experience in property lending, having worked for Greek and German banks in the past. He now spends his time between Greece and Cyprus, and honed his loan renegotiation skills in Greece advising large corporate borrowers.
Kenny told Cyprus Property News “We believe our company is in a position to help borrowers modify their loan terms and thereby relieve the immediate financial pressure and the threat of foreclosure.
Of course there is no ‘silver bullet’ solution, and we cannot magically make the debt go away. However our goal is to negotiate a medium to long term solution with the bank – not simply some temporary relief for a few months, which is what most banks currently offer in the best case.
Generally a loan modification is also beneficial to the bank, because the alternative is to commence foreclosure proceedings which takes time and costs money. Moreover, it will almost certainly result in a loss for the bank.
Our approach is to group a large number of loans / borrowers together, so that we can exert far greater negotiating leverage with the banks than any one individual borrower. It is also more efficient for the banks to be talking to one counter-party than several at a time. Our discussions are held at Head Office level and not Branch level.
Finally, I should add that so as to fully align our interests with those of our clients, we work purely on a success-fee basis, and will only charge for our services if we achieve the desired goal, which will have been agreed with the client from the outset”.
About Evolution Property Partners
EPP is a Cyprus based advisory company established by leading professionals in the industry to provide a unique and “value-added” service to its clients.
The team comprises individuals that have worked in senior managerial positions in property investment companies and financial institutions. They have extensive contacts with Greek and Cypriot banks and are in a unique position to help clients with all property and property loan issues.
Their website is www.evolutionpropertypartners.com and their email is info@evolutionpropertypartners.com.