PineBridge Benson Elliot received a £50 mln (€59.6 mln), 72.5% loan-to-value refinancing for an ongoing development of two speculative logistics assets in Woodford and Enfield, North London. These sites are being developed to accommodate seven warehouse units with a combined area of 16,258 m2 which have already received planning permission. The units are designed to meet high environmental standards and are expected to be completed within 18 months.

In a separate transaction, M&G provided a £150 mln (€178.8 mln), 53% loan-to-value facility to Metrobox, a joint venture between Delancey and Tritax. This refinancing was secured against four urban retail warehouses located in Guildford, Crawley, Luton, and Solihull. These units are fully leased to a diverse group of tenants, including Next, B&Q, Halfords, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Sports Direct, Pets at Home, and B&M.

George MacKinnon, managing director at PineBridge, commented: ‘PineBridge is delighted to have completed this financing with M&G, enabling the development of two high quality, sustainable urban logistics assets in core central London sub-markets where they are much needed to satisfy the needs of modern occupiers. We look forward to working with the M&G team in delivering the assets.’

Dan Riches, head of Real Estate Finance at M&G Real Estate, said: ‘We are committed to financing prime logistics and retail warehousing assets in strategic locations in the UK and Europe which meet the evolving needs of modern businesses. Growth in manufacturing and e-commerce are driving demand for Grade A logistics space, and our focus remains on supporting this uptick in sentiment through investments on behalf of our clients that are secured against well-located assets.’

A MetroBox spokesperson added: ‘Despite the refinancing exercise being undertaken during an uncertain time in the debt market, we were pleased to see significant interest from lenders. It has been great to work with the team at M&G who provided competitive terms — this deal stems from the high quality of the assets and the asset management successes of Delancey and Tritax on our MetroBox JV.’