HB Reavis opts for Lloyds financing of London scheme

Lloyds Bank’s commercial real estate team has provided a £47 million loan to developer HB Reavis to fund its refurbishment of an office building near the South Bank of London’s River Thames.

The development financing will support the refurbishment of the Cooper & Southwark building located at 61 Southwark Street.

The deal is HB Reavis’s first with a major UK bank. The firm entered the London market in 2013 and the Cooper & Southwark project is its first refurbishment scheme in the UK. The central Europe-focused developer has a significant track record in Slovakia, Poland, Czech Republic and Hungary.

The firm bought the 77,000 square feet building from Aberdeen Asset Management just over a year ago. The 1970s-built property contains nine storeys. HB Reavis plans to add floorspace and terraces to the building. Construction work is underway and the scheme is expected to be completed later this year.

“Cooper & Southwark is a landmark project for us and the support of a leading UK institution like Lloyds Bank has been pivotal to realising our plans, helping to anchor us in the London development market,” Said Tomas Jurdak, CEO of HB Reavis UK.

“This is a significant refurbishment project that will bring much needed, quality space to the central London market,” added Jonathan Monnickendam, relationship director on the developers team at Lloyds Bank Commercial Real Estate.

Last month, HB Reavis secured £127 million of finance for its flagship project 33 Central, a 225,000 square feet scheme in the City of London. The loan, the largest to be agreed by HB Reavis, was provided by pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank and Deutsche Hypothekenbank.