Asian banks facilitate biggest property loan in H1 2013

Traditional lenders dominated PropertyEU’s ranking of top financing deals in Europe for the second half of 2013, accounting for over half of the top 10 largest loans underwritten over the past six months.

However, alternative lenders UK insurer MetLife and US private equity group Starwood also played a significant role, primarily alongside European banking partners, but in one case (MetLife) on their own. The biggest deal - and possibly a portent of a future trend - was facilitated by a global banking syndicate comprising Malaysian banks CIMB and Maybank; Singapore-listed Overseas-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Bank and London-based Standard Chartered. Together they provided a €948 mln credit facility to finance the development of Battersea Power Station in London.

CMBS issues - largely backed by residential portfolios in Germany - staged a major comeback as they took the second, fifth and sixth place in the ranking. German lender Aareal was the single largest financier with two major loans under its belt: a €350 mln loan to PPHE for eight hotels in London and Amsterdam at a rate of 5.66% as well as a €211 mln seven-year loan to Edwardian Group to fund five Radisson Blu Edwardian hotels in the UK.

Aareal is now poised for further growth: in December it boosted its property loan portfolio with the purchase of peer Corealcredit Bank for around €342 mln. Aareal bought the property financier from its shareholder, LSF5 German Investments, an investment fund of US private equity group Lone Star. With a staff of 175, Corealcredit has offices in Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Munich and boasts a commercial property financing volume of €3.6 bn