Blackstone is looking to refinance its Mint hotel portfolio, completing a trio of big-ticket hotel lending opportunities.
The US private equity firm has mandated Eastdil Secured to advise on the circa £550m early refinancing of the eight-strong portfolio in a process that kicked off this week.
It is searching for fresh finance of around 70% loan to value to replace an August 2011 vintage debt package that included £300m of senior debt from Deutsche Bank.
The senior tranche was provided on a five-year term at more than 300 basis points over LIBOR. Deutsche was expected to sell down most of the debt through the syndication market.
The package also included £75m of mezzanine debt from Duet Real Estate Finance, now DRC Capital.
Lenders are also awaiting details on the refinancing of the Maybourne Hotel Group in a process also understood to be being run by Eastdil.
The Barclay brothers-controlled group, which owns Claridge’s, the Connaught and the Berkeley, wants to replace £547m in five-year debt facilities secured less than two years ago.
Bank of America Merrill Lynch, the Royal Bank of Canada and Wells Fargo underwrote the £400m senior facility. A £147m mezzanine loan was underwritten by Blackstone and funded in partnership with RBC and Starwood Capital.
The deals follow the refinancing of the Savoy, which saw borrowers Lloyds Banking Group and Kingdom Hotel Investments boost their overall loan by 50% from £200m to £300m and slice the margin by 33% from 380-400bps.
A source said: “It is a sensible time to refinance with the cost of UK senior debt falling up to 70 bps since last year and a strong appetite for big-ticket deals.”
The third deal is acquisition finance for the De Vere Group’s sale of its mid-market Village hotels chain, which is expected to attract bids of around £450m. The Lloyds-owned group has appointed JP Morgan to advise on the sale of 25 Village Urban Resorts.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
