Schroders Capital has provided a £33m loan to refinance the Maltings shopping centre in St Albans, Hertfordshire.
The three-year facility has been agreed with Boultbee LDN Investment, which has owned the 300,000 sq ft open-air shopping centre since 2003 when it paid £52m to Chester Properties for the asset.
The loan includes a specific ESG-related capex programme, designed to support stakeholders’ ESG focus.
Schroders said the deal was the first for its UK Senior Loan Fund, for which it expects to raise £1bn this year.
Kristina Foster, fund manager at Schroders Capital, said: “We continue to see a funding gap in the UK marketplace, with borrowers finding capital hard to find. The Maltings is a strong retail asset with a long-term owner and we are delighted to announce this loan which is the first for our growing platform.”
While Boultbee has owned the Maltings for almost 20 years, the landlord has flirted with a sale in the past. In 2005, it was close to selling the property for £105m to private Irish client of Savills. The deal never completed. In July last year, it secured a £36m loan from Unbranded Finance and investment manager Westbrook Partners on a two-year term.
Simon Hosking, managing director at Boultbee LDN, said the shopping centre had “emerged strongly” from the pandemic and continued to buck trends, trading at 99% occupancy.
The six-acre site is let to around 100 occupiers, including Sports Direct, TK Maxx, Wilko and H&M. It also includes 31 long leasehold flats and an 800-space car park.
Boultbee was advised by Bircroft Private on the refinancing.
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