FINANCE: Morgan Stanley has been selected as the frontrunner to refinance Green Property’s Blanchardstown town centre near Dublin with a €750m loan.
The deal with the US bank is an illustration of the resurgent desire of lenders to return to the Irish market by writing large cheques at loan-to-values so far unseen this cycle.
Green appointed Eastdil Secured in February to search for the debt, which reflects an 83% loan-to-value. The giant 1.5m sq ft complex is made up of a 600,000 sq ft shopping centre, 400,000 sq ft of retail warehousing, a Crowne Plaza Hotel, offices and leisure facilities.
Morgan Stanley has written a whole loan for Green, of which it is expected to syndicate or securitise the majority. Rival banks looking at the deal are thought to have priced a €587m senior portion of the loan at a margin of just over 200 bps and a €163m mezzanine tranche with a detachment point of 65% at an internal rate of return of 8%.
Blanchardstown was completed by Green in 1996 and is the largest asset managed by the company, which is headed by chairman Stephen Vernon and chief executive Pat Gunne. It is owned by its Green Property Investment Fund 1 and is separate to Green REIT, the Dublin-listed vehicle launched by Green’s management in July 2013.
The loan is Morgan Stanley’s second in Ireland in the past month, having financed Starwood Property Trust’s €350m purchase of a Dublin office portfolio from Lone Star with a €245m loan.
