MEPC’s latest call for cash, in the form of a £200m syndicated loan, has been oversubscribed to the tune of £75m. All four UK clearing banks – along with UBS, WestDeutsche Landesbank, Credit Lyonnais, Royal Bank of Canada, Sumitomo, Sanwa and Fuji Bank – are among those signing on.
The loan, in the form of a £275m revolving credit facility arranged by N M Rothschild, is for five years at 0.475% over LIBOR until 1997 then increasing to 0.5%. It will extend the maturity of MEPC’s medium-term facilities.
MEPC has said the new funds will be used for “general corporate purposes”. This includes property acquisitions as and when opportunities arise. Last year MEPC strengthened its balance sheet by raising £222m with a rights issue in June and a further $228m in the US. At the September year-end, when pretax profits dipped by £14.2m to £81m, gearing was 48%: 66% of loans had maturities of at least five years.
