UK-focused retail REIT Capital & Regional has completed the refinancing of the debt on its five wholly-owned mall properties by entering into new debt facilities totalling £372.5 mln (€434 mln), of which £362.5 mln (€423 mln) has been drawn.
The new facilities include a £165 mln 10-year loan with Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America (TIAA), with a one year extension option; a £107.5 mln seven- year loan with Wells Fargo Bank International; and a £100 mln bank facility of five years with two one-year extension options with The Royal Bank of Scotland. About £90 mln of this facility has been drawn down with a further £10 mln available to fund capex.
'This refinancing achieves the objectives we set out at the time of our half year results announcement in August 2016. It provides the group with the security of long term funding while also taking advantage of the historic low level of current interest rates,' commented Capital & regional CEO Hugh Scott-Barrett.
'It also diversifies the sources and maturities of our debt, and increases the quantum to fund future capex efficiently at the asset level whilst maintaining significant flexibility for asset recycling,' Scott-Barrett added.
The £107.5 mln facility is secured on The Mall, Luton (pictured), while the other two facilities are secured on the four assets at Blackburn, Maidstone, Walthamstow and Wood Green.
The weighted average maturity of the new facilities is 7.8 years, rising to 8.8 years if the extension options are exercised. Interest on the new facilities has been fixed resulting in an overall blended rate of 3.27%. This compares to an equivalent rate of 3.52% on the previous facility prior to refinancing and following the sale of The Mall, Camberley.
Capital & Regional was advised by Rothschild on the refinancing.