FINANCE: Deutsche Pfandbriefbank has provided a £53m facility to Brockton Capital for a Thames Valley and west London office portfolio.
The German bank has advanced the loan to subsidiaries of Brockton Capital Fund II in its debut deal with the private equity investor.
It refinances the investor’s purchase of the 147,000 sq ft Thames Tower, Reading, which it bought from LaSalle Investment Management and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority in January, alongside Landid.
The 1970s Thames Tower, which has been vacant for four years, is earmarked for an ambitious £100m revamp.
The loan also refinances the earlier acquisition of Minerva House, Reading; The Urban Building, Slough; Charter Place, Uxbridge; and 1 Queen Caroline Street, Hammersmith, London.
The business plan for the currently vacant, 650,000 sq ft portfolio is to comprehensively reposition the properties through wholesale refurbishment and lease-up strategy.
The transaction closed on 13 May 2014.
Charles Balch, head of real estate finance international, UK & CEE at pbb, said his firm’s first deal with Brockton provides it with “a flexible facility to allow it to implement its vision for these properties”.
Brockton partner Tony Edgley said: “We needed a banking partner that understood the many moving parts of a comprehensive refurbishment programme, but also the extraordinary potential that the Thames Valley office sector presents at this moment in the cycle.”
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
