Allianz Real Estate has financed Merlin Properties’ acquisition of the Marineda shopping centre in La Coruña with a €133.6m loan.
The 10-year loan has a fixed rate of 2.66% with no amortisation. It has a loan-to-value of close to 50%.
Merlin bought the centre last August for €260m from Invest Cos, which is owned by businessmen Manuel Jove, Modesto Rodríguez, José Collazo and Jose Souto. It is the second largest shopping centre in Spain at 196,000 sq m.
The deal with the insurer illustrates lenders’ increasing willingness to lend at tight margins in the hot Spanish market against high quality assets. For Merlin it is the latest step in the company putting in place gearing to bolster its resources following its €1.5bn initial public offering in June last year.
Merlin has a maximum leverage of 50% and this deal means the company has a loan-to-value of 39% across its portfolio. The weighted average maturity of its debt is 9.1 years, with a cost of 3.8% until late 2017, and 2.7% thereafter.
At the end of last year Merlin refinanced 880 bank branches and five office buildings let to BBVA with a new €940m debt facility. The consortium mandated was CaixaBank, BNP Paribas, Calyon, Santander and Popular, with Credit Suisse, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale.
Allianz’s European real estate lending drive is led by Roland Fuchs. It is looking to diversify its €2.5bn book away from its core markets of Germany and France and is also looking to do deals in Italy.
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