Sony Center loan stands out among late-year deals

Each month, Real Estate Capital compiles data on recent lending deals in the UK and continental European real estate debt markets. A rundown of transactions from mid-October to mid-November can be found by clicking on the below images.

• One of the largest European real estate deals this year was financed by LBBW, ING Real Estate Finance and pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank with a €625 million loan. The 10-year debt package was provided to a joint venture between Oxford Properties Group and Madison International Realty, to fund the acquisition of the Sony Center in Berlin in October for around €1.1 billion. The purchase price implies a loan-to-value ratio of around 57 percent. The pricing of the loan was undisclosed, but it is understood to be in line with typical senior margins for German prime offices, which CBRE’s data put at 1 percent. The site comprises office, retail and leisure space, as well as 67 residential units.

• Morgan Stanley refinanced the debt secured against London & Regional’s Atlas hotel portfolio through a five-year, floating-rate loan. The size of the debt package was not revealed, although it was reportedly in the region of £400 million (€553 million), implying a loan-to-value ratio of around 69 percent. The Atlas portfolio comprises 48 hotels totalling around 5,800 rooms located throughout England, Scotland and Wales.

• Industrial developer CTP Group sourced a €160 million loan to refinance a logistics portfolio in the Czech Republic. The seven-year loan was provided by Allianz Real Estate and ING Bank, with the former putting forward €100 million and the latter taking a share of €60 million. The financing is understood to reflect a loan-to-value of 60 percent to 65 percent, with pricing in the range of 150bps-200bps. The debt package will be used to refinance existing loans from ING, Česká spořitelna and VUB Banka; and to finance projects that have been completed in 2017, CTP said.

• Aviva Investors wrote a £144 million (€160 million) seven-year facility to refinance a UK retail portfolio owned by UK property investor Aquila. Aviva’s fixed-rate loan was secured against a multi-sector portfolio of 12 assets located in Chelmsford and Maldon, principally the Bond Street shopping centre. It comprises a prime retail and leisure scheme of around 300,000 square feet, anchored by a John Lewis store covering more than 120,000 square feet. Aquila also sourced a £16 million mezzanine facility from PGIM Real Estate.