Debt advisor and asset manager BBS Capital has arranged two facilities totalling £42.5 mln (€48 mln) with Titlestone Structured Finance and Shawbrook Bank, for the acquisition of a major London permitted development deal in Uxbridge, on behalf of a private Israeli investor.
BBS Capital's private client has acquired a 148,000 ft2 (13,750 m2) office campus comprising three buildings in Uxbridge, west London, for £43 mln (€49 mln) from Legal & General.
All three of the buildings have consent under permitted development, for change of use into 237 residential units.
'We had to be creative to structure this deal,' commented Westley Richards of BBS Capital.
'Our extensive knowledge of the debt market and senior level relationships with lenders meant we were able to secure bespoke facilities to suit our client’s business plan. Both Titlestone and Shawbrook were able to move quickly and offer the flexibility that we needed on very competitive terms.'
Conversion works on one of the buildings, Bridge House, totalling 79,459 ft2 (7,380 m2), will commence immediately. However, the remaining two buildings, Waterside and Riverside, comprising approximately 34,000 ft2 (3,160 m2) each, are let to Xerox until 2020, meaning their redevelopment will be delayed until vacant possession can be obtained.
As redevelopment works will start at different times, BBS Capital had to structure two facilities to ensure its client could acquire the office campus, but match its two separate business plans for the redevelopment of the buildings.
Development loans
BBS Capital secured a £28.5m development loan for Bridge House with Titlestone Structured Finance, at 60% LTV, for a term of 2 years.
For the Waterside and Riverview buildings, a £14m facility was arranged with Shawbrook Bank at 70% LTV, for a term of two years, to bridge the period until redevelopment works can begin.
The office campus was acquired by the same Israeli investor that BBS Capital represented for the Sky Buildings purchase in Brentford at the end of last year.
