pbb lends £81m to Harbert for Scottish shopping mall

pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided an £81m loan to Harbert for its £115m purchase of Eastgate Shopping Centre in Inverness, Scotland.

The five-year facility reflects a loan-to-value of 70% at a cost of around 200bps.

“The transaction represents further expansion of the bank’s portfolio secured on regional assets and is evidence of pbb’s appetite to provide financing for assets outside London,” said Charles Balch, head of real estate finance international, UK & CEE at pbb.

“Harbert is an existing client of the bank and the deal shows the bank’s commitment to support its expansion plans.”

Harbert bought Eastgate through a subsidiary of its Harbert European Real Estate Fund IV, alongside joint venture partner Scoop Asset Management, from F&C REIT. The deal closed yesterday.

It is the first purchase made by Harbert’s value-add, pan-European Fund IV since its first close in April. It is targeting €600m.

The 38,100 sq m Eastgate shopping centre, next to Inverness railway station, is almost fully occupied with more than 70 tenants including Marks and Spencer, Debenhams, New Look and Next.

It has the largest shopping catchment area in Europe attracting around nine million shoppers each year and generates about £8m in rent per annum.

The centre opened in 1983 and was developed in two phases with major refurbishment and extension work carried out in 1993 and 2002 respectively. Harbert is planning further work at the property including three new restaurants.

Harbert secured a £96m, four-year facility from Barclays in January to fund its £137m purchase of the Emporer portfolio of nine UK office assets.