ING has financed the £264m purchase of Christ Church Court, EC1, by Hui Wing Mau, the billionaire owner of listed Chinese real estate giant Shimao Property.
The Dutch bank provided a loan of about £170m for the acquisition, which exchanged last year but only completed this week, reflecting an LTV of 65%.
ING acted as sole mandated lead arranger and bookrunner and will syndicate a portion of the loan later this year.
The off-market deal – at a price reflecting a 4.76% yield – was Mau’s first UK acquisition.
Many of the Asian purchasers of trophy London buildings have chosen to finance their deals via their domestic banks.
However, European banks have been increasingly competitive in securing financing mandates in recent months, with Lloyds financing Ping An’s purchase of Tower Place, EC3, at the start of this year.
Christ Church Court, at 15 Newgate Street on Paternoster Square, is let to Goldman Sachs until 2025 subject to a tenant break in 2020. It was sold by Deka Immobilien.
Savills and CBRE advised Deka; BNP Paribas Real Estate advised Mau.
l Morgan Stanley has been selected to finance Sankaty Advisors’ circa €190m (£136.5m) purchase of Project Coney, one of the last Ulster Bank Portfolio sales.
The loan is estimated to be 60-65% of the purchase price over no more than a three-year term. Development land in the portfolio – which includes 36 hotels, 66 pubs, 23 commercial buildings, 49 homes and a care home – is understood to have pushed down the LTV Morgan Stanley was able to offer.
jack.sidders@estatesgazette.com
