Two new securitisations have been launched in Europe in the last few days, bringing the total this year to three, on course to raise almost €1.2 bn of finance, according to the latest issue of PropertyEU's sister publication Europroperty.
The largest is a €530 mln Finnish CMBS from Citi and Morgan Stanley, securitising a loan which financed part of Blackstone’s acquisition of Sponda last year.
The other is a €250 mln CMBS from Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) backed by a Blackstone owned Italian logistics portfolio.
They follow a €404 mln CMBS called Pietra Nera that was sold last month. Issued directly by Blackstone, advised by Deutsche Bank, it refinanced four Italian outlet malls and a retail centre.
Blackstone bought Sponda for €1.8 bn in a deal that valued the portfolio at c€3.8 bn. Citi and Morgan Stanley are marketing the Sponda CMBS this week and expect it to be sold next week.
The loan is secured on about 65 higher-yielding properties in the Greater Helsinki and Tampere areas and was one of three separate loan pools totalling €2.6 bn which Blackstone put in place.
More CMBS financings expected
Sources said that more CMBS financings are expected as a window has opened, making securitisation pricing competitive again compared to bank finance, for certain types of assets.
There are said to be a pan-European and an Irish transaction under consideration plus more UK industrial and logistics deals where Blackstone is the sponsor. The private equity giant has already agreed to buy two separate portfolios this year: Helical’s remaining industrial portfolio for £150 mln (€171 mln) and, with M7, a £320 mln package from InfraRed Capital Partners’ Active Real Estate Fund III.
Total debt finance raised via publicly sold CMBS last year was less than the three deals already launched this year. There was only one publicly sold sterling issue, by BAML, securitising a £350 mln senior loan that financed Blackstone’s £560 mln acquisition of 127 urban logistics assets from Brockton Capital.
Roman Kogan, head of real estate finance in Europe at Deutsche Bank, said: ‘The last window was 2014-2015. Given where asset-backed securities spreads have moved now, CMBS again competes with bank pricing.’
