£200m financing package for Investream portfolio heralds Goldman Sachs’ loan book ambitions
The US’s number-one lender to commercial real estate has entered the UK for the first time.
Goldman Sachs this week agreed a £200m-plus financing package for a mixed portfolio to launch its drive to become the UK’s biggest securitised lender.
The bank’s Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities division has refinanced a £250m portfolio of 12 properties around the country, owned by Mark Morris’s and Maurice Golker’s Investream.
Goldman’s managing director for CMBS, John Barakat, has been in the UK since the start of the year, sourcing appropriate stock for the division’s books. It will securitise its lending in the UK and Europe, allowing it to recycle its capital.
The division is capable of lending on deals ranging from £25m to “well over £1bn”, according to Barakat.
“We are a leading player in US securitisations and the market for securitisations in Europe is growing. Our advantages are that we are flexible, and can be very quick.”
Barakat added that the division would target “institutional-quality properties and institutional-quality borrowers” and would lend up to 90% loan-to-value.
As well as the UK, Goldman is targeting France, Germany, and Italy.
Goldman has been a major player in European real estate over the past few years but has largely limited its involvement to equity positions, via vehicles such as its Whitehall Fund.
Its move into lending follows rival US lender GMAC’s success in the European securitisation sector. Since it first came to the UK last year (25 May 2002, p39), GMAC has been one of the country’s biggest lenders.
Last month, GMAC formed a joint venture with Deutsche Bank, which is to launch its first securitisation of UK property loans, issuing £500m of bonds.
The loan provided by Goldman relates to the remainder of a £365m portfolio acquired by Golker and Morris with Westbrook Partners in October 2001.
Goldman replaces the debt originally provided by Lehman Brothers and HVB.
Finance, p33
