ING provides £109m New Bond Street financing

ING Real Estate Finance has provided a £108.9 million loan to finance the purchase of prime retail and offices on London’s New Bond Street.

The Dutch bank has solely underwritten a five-year investment loan to Oxford Properties, Swiss luxury goods holding company Richemont and US investor Crown Acquisitions for the acquisition of 47-50 New Bond Street, one of the largest property purchases on the prime shopping street in the last two years.

The three investors bought the property from Aberdeen Asset Management in September for £198 million, implying a loan-to-value ratio of 55 percent for ING’s financing. The investment deal was reported to have been temporarily halted following the result of the UK’s vote to leave the European Union in June.

The property contains 48,000 square feet of space which was completely redeveloped by Scottish Widows in 2009, with a portion of the original Victorian facade being retained. The retail tenants are Pinet and Mulberry, and office tenants include Ralph Lauren, Atomico, Varde Partners and Urban & Civic.

ING acted as mandated lead arranger, facility agent, hedge counterparty and account bank, and is in the process of syndicating a portion of the loan financing. It is understood that the syndication is well advanced with a single bank.

“ING REF is delighted with the addition of this prominent asset to its West End financing portfolio – the fact that it was acquired and financed after the June Brexit referendum result demonstrates the attractiveness of the asset as well as our continuing activity in the senior debt markets,” said Michael Shields, head of ING REF UK, USA and APAC.

“ING’s Real Estate Finance team is well-known for swiftly executing major financings and delivering personalised, bespoke services to our clients. We have a strong global relationship with the joint venture and are delighted to be able to support them in such a prestigious project,” Shields added.