LMA aims to standardise German loan documentation

The Loan Market Association (LMA) has launched new documentation intended to standardise German-law real estate loan agreements.

The Loan Market Association (LMA) has launched new documentation intended to standardise German-law real estate loan agreements.

The industry body said that the recommendations were designed with syndicated loans in mind and on the basis that the deals are secured by multi-property investment. The documentation is intended to create a standard template for transactions in order to make the German real estate loan market more accessible to institutional investors aiming to buy into loan deals.

The guidelines were put together and agreed upon by a working party consisting of representatives of German and international banks plus German law firms. The document also sets out drafting options to assist with suitability of loans for registration in a Pfandbrief bank’s cover register, or Deckungsregister.

frankfurt1The German document uses the same structure and boilerplate as the LMA recommended form of facility agreement for the German-law investment grade market, the organisation said. The LMA previously published a recommended English-law real estate facility agreement in 2012, with a development finance template published in 2014.

“Following a significant rise in both overseas and non-bank investment in the German commercial real estate market, we hope that the document will contribute to attracting new entrants to the market,” said LMA chief executive Clare Dawson.

The LMA was formed in 1996 with the aim of assisting in the development of a secondary loan market in Europe.