ING, BBVA finance Lar Espana

ING Real Estate Finance and Bilbao-based BBVA have provided €104 million of debt finance to Spanish SOCIMI Lar Espana Real Estate.

The facility will finance future acquisitions by the listed firm.

The deal brings the SOCIMI’s financing costs down to 2.2 percent, the company said, with the average maturity of its debt now at 5.9 years. Lar Espana’s total debt now stands at €558 million, of which €418 million is bank loans and the remainder bond issuance completed in 2015.

The firm’s net loan-to-value ratio stands at 33 percent of its gross asset value, which will rise to 38 percent once the new funds have been invested. The company has a maximum LTV of 50 percent.

Lar Espana said that the financing relates to two assets acquired in 2016; the Gran Vía de Vigo shopping centre, acquired in September 2016, and the Vistahermosa shopping centre, which was acquired in June 2016.

“The financing agreements that we have just achieved are testament to the financial system’s confidence in our company’s business plan, and allow us to both reduce the cost of debt and assuredly take on our portfolio expansion,” said Sergio Criado, CFO of Lar Espana.

In total, Lar Espana owns 29 properties valued at €1.275 billion, including retail, office and logistics properties.