News & Analysis

German financial services group SEB AG has provided a €59m, seven-year refinancing facility at a fixed rate of 1.84% to Sirius Real Estate. The refinancing takes out two Macquarie Group facilities and reduces Sirius’s annual cost of debt by around €2.6m.

Three French banks have taken part in the country’s largest financing of 2015 so far, providing a mega €854m joint debt package for Altarea’s refinancing of a 17-asset retail portfolio, Real Estate Capital can reveal. Crédit Agricole CIB and Natixis co-arranged the loan, each taking a 43% participation equal to €367m. Crédit Mutuel took a 14% share of €119.5m.

AEW Europe, the Paris-based private real estate investment firm, has appointed Cyril Hoyaux as head of debt funds management ahead of the launch of a €750m debt fund. The firm is seeking to significantly expand its real estate debt platform with the appointment of Hoyaux and the setting-up of its second debt fund, Senior European Loan Fund 2 (SELF2).

A syndicate of four banks have provided a £303m facility at 1.9% to Redefine International to help fund £490m of purchases from Aegon. HSBC, Barclays, Abbey National Treasury Services and the Royal Bank of Scotland have teamed up to lend the property investor a £155m term loan and a £148m revolving credit facility.

Citi and Morgan Stanley are financing Lone Star's £2.2bn purchase of Aviva's Project Churchill, which comprises a portfolio of loans and real estate assets valued at around £2.4bn. The two banks are reported to be in the deal for an equal share of up to £1.5bn of financing to Lone Star, who saw off Apollo Global Management and Cerberus Capital Management to win the portfolio. Both banks are expected to syndicate their loans.

Topland Group provided more than £100m in bridging loans in the first half of 2015 driven by demand outside of London. The London-based property investor said it is seeing a big increase in businesses and people seeking bridging loan funding for what they believe are better priced assets outside London.

Berkeley Point Capital has provided a $37.7m Freddie Mac loan to Utah-based RealSource for the acquisition and repositioning of the 528-unit, garden-style Antero Apartments in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Deutsche Bank has provided $115m to Christopher Schlank and Nicholas Bienstock-led Savanna Real Estate Funds for the upcoming 160,000 sq ft, nine-story, office and gallery building at 540 West 26th Street which broke ground last month in New York.

Allianz Real Estate has made its first foray into Ireland with a €150m participation in a €300m Morgan Stanley acquisition loan to Starwood Property Trust. The five-year, floating rate loan, with an LTV below 60%, is secured on 11 office buildings and one residential property, all in Dublin.