Strong sponsors completing big-ticket regional purchases continue to provide opportunities for lenders outside the competitive London market.
Deka Bank has completed a senior loan to finance AEW Europe’s £152m purchase of The Bridges shopping centre in Sunderland (pictured).
The German bank provided a straight senior loan with an LTV ratio of around 65% to the investment manager, which it has worked with in the past.
The loan is secured on the 550,000 sq ft shopping centre which is anchored by Debenhams with a further 100 shops including Foot Locker, Superdry and TopShop.
Meanwhile HSBC is frontrunner to provide NewRiver Retail and its partner PIMCO with a circa 60% LTV senior debt facility for their £140m Swallowtail portfolio buy.
The partners’ purchase of a trio of shopping centres being sold by Abbey Group and Foyleside Group completed in August with £84m post-acquisition finance expected to be put in place by the end of September.
NewRiver’s and Pimco’s relationship banks include HSBC, Santander and Barclays, and although a club deal was an option there was strong “single bank interest” in the loan.
The 758,000 sq ft portfolio comprises Priory Meadow, Hastings, East Sussex; The Avenue, Newton Mearns, Glasgow; and Abbey Centre, Newtonabbey, Northern Ireland.
The deals come as bankers speaking at a Loan Market Association session at MIPIM UK emphasise stock selection and covenant strength as key to regional lending deals.
Lloyds global real estate boss John Feeney said structural changes in the public sector and the retail market in particular meant that even good-quality borrowers could be seriously affected by early exits from leases.
Brendan Jarvis, head of real estate at Barclays Capital, added that international banks were showing interest in UK regions, but placed an emphasis on the relationship with the borrower over the attraction of individual deals.
