US-based Blackstone Group has teamed up with Canadian investor Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy loans backed by a 12% stake in Paris office landlord Gecina. Financial details were not disclosed.
US-based Blackstone Group has teamed up with Canadian investor Ivanhoe Cambridge to buy loans backed by a 12% stake in Paris office landlord Gecina. Financial details were not disclosed.
Blackstone's Real Estate Partners Europe III fund and Ivanhoe Cambridge, which forms part of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec, acquired about 40% of the outstanding bank loans made to two of Gecina’s largest shareholders, Joaquin Rivero's Alteco Gestion y Promocion de Marcas, S.L and Victoria Soler's Mag-Import.
The credit facility was provided by 13 European banks in May 2006 and is secured by Gecina SIIC shares. The loans, with a nominal value of EUR 640 mln, are likely to have traded for a large discount to value, similar to past debt transactions seen in Europe.
Rivero, who is Gecina's former chairman and CEO, and partner Soler pledged their combined 31% stake in the Paris office real estate investment trust as collateral for the loans.
Both Rivero and Soler filed for creditor protection last month following the collapse of refinancing talks with the creditor banks.
