British Land’s and Schroders’ £1.6bn Hercules Unit Trust has secured a £350m five-year loan from Aereal Bank to pay down its securitised debt.
Next month, the partners will repay half the vehicle’s £500m outstanding debt ahead of an October 2012 deadline.
The interest rate on this term loan has been swapped to a fixed rate, resulting in an all-in rate of 4% pa, compared with 5.25% payable under the existing facility.
A further £100m revolving loan facility will be available for acquisitions or disposals and, with existing cash, will allow the fund to serve a redemption notice on £194m of convertible loan notes in January.
