

BNP Paribas has provided €739.5m of fresh debt to refinance a French residential vehicle and its 7,140 unit portfolio.
The finance has been issued to Powerhouse France, which is managed by TwentyTwo Real Estate. TwentyTwo Real Estate is the company set up in 2012 by former Perella Weinberg partner Daniel Rigny.
The €1.2bn portfolio was bought in June 2013 with equity from Massena Partners and Farralon Capital Management from LBO France and Deutsche Asset & Wealth Management. At the time it was valued at €1bn and included around 500 more homes.
The new six-year facility is made up of a €205m corporate facility for Powerhouse and a €585.5m senior loan to the subsidiary that owns the portfolio, SAFRAN. The company expects to use the capital to buy more residential assets.
The arrangement repays early a €620m, five-year facility put in place in March 2013 by Natixis. BNP Paribas Corporate Finance placed 60% of that debt with institutional investors through a securitisation vehicle.
Rigny said: “This transaction is evidence of the strength of our management platform and the quality of this substantial portfolio, which provides a long term inflation hedge whilst generating strong cashflow.
“With this refinancing now complete, and the capital structure fully adapted to its strategic development, Powerhouse France is in a robust position to grow its property portfolio further. We believe that the affordable end of the French housing market, which is the focus of Powerhouse France, displays good fundamentals supported by strong demographics and offers attractive growth prospects.”
Located across France, the assets are leased to EDF, the state owned French electric utility company, under a long term master lease agreement. They are used by EDF employees working in the group’s nuclear plants. The portfolio is managed by Scaprim Services, the services arm of TwentyTwo.