Aviva backs sheds with £95m loan to Griffen

Aviva Commercial Finance has provided Griffen UK Logistics Fund (GULF) with a loan package totalling £94.6m.

The loans are mostly for five years with a proportion on a floating rate. They are secured by a portfolio of 22 UK regional warehouses, mainly in the West Midlands.

The Jersey-registered GULF, managed by Griffen Capital, was launched last July. It targets UK logistics and distribution assets and brownfield redevelopment sites.

Rui Nobre, managing director of Griffen Capital, said:  “GULF has made over £100m of acquisitions in the core logistics distribution markets during the last ten months and is looking to scale up through investment and development.”

Aviva’s facility is the first significant debt the fund has taken on. The loan will be used to fund further acquisitions.

“Everything we’ve bought today we’ve bought with cash and that’s not particularly efficient from a leveraging point of view and hence the deal with Aviva,” said Nobre

“We’ve got more than enough shareholder funds to take GULF to £500m and we are well on our way to that.”

Griffen Capital is part of the South African real estate group Griffen Properties.

“We are very pleased to have developed a relationship with Griffen who share our positive views on the distribution sector,” said Barry Fowler, managing director of Aviva Commercial Finance

“This demonstrates our ability to provide dynamic loans of a shorter tenor alongside our traditional long-term lending.”