BAML backs Blackstone with €700m on German, UK assets

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has provided more than €700m to Blackstone for acquisitions in the UK and Germany.

The US bank has supplied €335m to the private equity giant for its €470m purchase of the Kingfisher retail portfolio of German assets.

The five-year facility reflects a loan-to-value of just over 70% with a margin slightly under 250bps + EURIBOR.

Blackstone bought the 55 retail assets from Stenham Property in May.

BAML has also provided £260m (€367m) to Blackstone for its purchase of some of GE Capital’s industrial and office assets in the UK, including London’s 98 Fetter Lane development.

The bank is currently in negotiations to fund Blackstone’s purchase of GE Capital assets in Spain.

Blackstone and Wells Fargo struck a $23bn deal in April to buy most of GE Capital’s real estate loan book and bricks and mortar assets.

Blackstone has bought around $4.5bn-worth of property in the US and Europe. Of that, Blackstone’s BREP Europe IV fund bought GE Capital’s European office, logistics and retail assets for €1.9bn. Most of the assets are in Spain, France and the UK.