Barclays Bank has won the fiercely competitive process to finance Oaktree Capital Management’s £430m purchase of three MEPC business parks.
In its second deal with the US private equity firm and its joint venture partner Patrizia Immobilien, the bank is to provide a whole loan of £335m, reflecting a loan-to-value ratio of 80%.
It beat off bids from investment banks and rival clearers including Citi, Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank to win the senior debt mandate.
Details of how the loan is to be split are yet to be finalised but it is expected to comprise a senior tranche of around £218m and a mezzanine loan of £117m, which Barclays is now trying to sell.
Oaktree was looking for a five-year senior loan with a margin of circa 150 basis points but the senior portion is understood to have been priced at 175bps over LIBOR.
The partners confirmed that they had exchanged contracts to buy the three assets from Hermes-owned MEPC this week in a cash deal reflecting a 7.3% yield.
Last year, Barclays provided the partners with a £135m whole loan to finance the £245m acquisition of the IQ Winnersh business park from SEGRO.
bridget.o’connell@estatesgazette.com
