Afirma optimistic for 'Brazilian Cancun' finance
MADRID, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Spanish property firm Afirma (AFRA.MC) said on Friday it was confident it would secure financing for a tourist complex on Brazil's northern coast, dubbed a $10 billion "new Cancun" by the Brazilian press.
The 30 square kilometre site -- one-third the size of Paris -- will be built along 12 km (7.5 miles) of beach and spread inland around an estuary near the city of Fortaleza and will contain 13 five-star hotels and three golf courses.
"We are talking about a very attractive project in a very attractive country from a tourism point of view and emerging economically," an Afirma spokesman said.
"With all these elements, it is easy to deduce that there will be sufficient financing," he said, adding that until the project had been authorised it was too early to talk concretely about how the project will be financed.
Afirma said in a statement on Friday it had a 55 percent stake in the project, whose execution would depend on a viability study and obtaining financing.
The spokesman declined to say how much the development would cost to build but Brazilian newspapers have put the figure at $10 billion, and compared it to the popular resort in Cancun, Mexico.
The development is being challenged in the courts by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) campaigning for indigenous rights, but the spokesman said he was confident of a positive outcome for the company.
"It will soon be sorted out," he said, adding that environmental objections had not been raised.
In Spain, Afirma has been hit by a virtual freeze in the residential property sector and tighter financing.
However, unlike some of its peers, the company has successfully refinanced, agreeing with creditors led by private savings bank Caixa Galicia to only pay interest on 754 million euros worth of debt this year and next before starting to cut the pile from 2010.
Afirma was formed from a merger of three companies including Astroc, whose share price plunge last year first triggered a sector meltdown that has dragged the Spanish economy into crisis. (Reporting by Ben Harding; editing by Sue Thomas)
