SEGRO and Aviva’s joint venture, the Airport Property Partnership, has completed a £400m refinancing with five banks.
The jv, which has a portfolio of 27 industrial assets around UK airports, turned to new and existing lenders to refinance a loan originally taken out in 2011.
The banks – Wells Fargo, Credit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC – loaned £400m to the partnership, refinancing a package that was due to expire in the early months of 2016.
One of the original lenders from 2011, Barclays Corporate Bank, dropped out following the refinance request. Wells Fargo stepped in.
The loan extends the finance package for a further five years and reduces APP’s leverage by three percentage points to 43% of the total portfolio value of £928m.
Reaching an agreed valuation among all parties proved problematic. Different outcomes were provided depending on whether the assets were categorised as airport infrastructure or industrial property, with the final outcome being the latter and a lower valuation.
The majority of the properties (81%) are located around Heathrow, with the balance around other London airports.
RBS was also behind this week’s refinancing of Aberdeen Asset Management’s Airport Industrial Property Unit Trust.
The bank extended a five-year, £145m revolving credit facility. The life of the unit trust has been extended to 2036.
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