Coima secures margin discount on Milan and Rome refi

Listed Italian real estate firm Coima RES has sourced a refinancing of two properties held in a closed-ended fund in which it owns the majority stake.

The incumbent lenders in the deal, Italy’s UBI Banca, French bank Credit Agricole CIB and Dutch-headquartered lender ING Real Estate Finance, provided the €73 million refinancing with a 25 basis points reduction compared to the existing debt, the Milan-based company said.

The margin reduction will equate to an annual saving of around €110,000 per year, Coima RES said, adding that it also repaid €5 million of the original loan.

The two properties are owned by MH Real Estate Crescita Fund, of which Coima RES owns 86.7 percent. The fund was originally established in July 2005 and was bought by Coima RES in July 2016.

The buildings are the mixed-use Gioiaotto in Milan’s Porta Nuova area and 2331 Eur Center in Rome’s Eur business district. Together, the buildings contain 26,562 square metres of space. Around half of the space in the Gioiaotto building is fully let to NH Hotel Group and the reminder to office tenants including Roland Berger, Grant Thornton, and QBE Insurance. The Rome asset, 2331 Eur Center, is fully let on long-term lease contracts to tenants such as AXA, Fastweb and Willis.

The two prime properties are valued at €147.5 million, implying a 49 percent loan-to-value on the financing. The maturity of the debt has been extended by 3.7 years, from June 2018 to March 2022.

“The improvement of the loan terms is another step in the active management of our portfolio and demonstrates the value our organisation can create for our shareholders. In particular, our recent successful lease extension of the NH Hotel lease at the Gioiaotto building set the stage for this successful refinancing,” said Manfredi Catella, CEO of Coima RES.