Wells Fargo backs IPUT with €150m revolver

Wells Fargo has provided a €150 million revolving credit facility to unlisted Irish property investor IPUT.

The Dublin-based investor said in its annual statement this morning (14 April) that it will use the loan to finance redevelopment projects across its portfolio.

The facility has a term of three years and €52.7 million has been drawn down to date, the firm said. The facility was agreed with Wells Fargo in January. No pricing details were disclosed although given the low risk profile of the borrower, which has a net asset value of €1.8 billion, it is likely that the loan was competitively priced.

“[The facility] will enable us to manage our dividend pay-out policy by ensuring a degree of consistency over the next couple of years while our redevelopment projects are in progress. I should add that any new equity raised will be used to fund new income producing assets or to pay down the RCF as redeveloped properties are completed and let,” said IPUT chairman Frank Close.

IPUT had contracted capital commitments of €90.47 million as at 31 December 2015, relating to construction contracts for refurbishment and redevelopment projects which began last year. The RCF was executed in order to manage the liquidity risk around the funding of those projects, IPUT said.

Wells Fargo is one of several foreign banks active in the Irish real estate lending market, although it is understood to have done asset-level financing before now. However, IPUT fits the profile of the institutional clients which the US bank seeks to finance.