Retail asset manager Pradera has raised about €500 mln of debt from Goldman Sachs to finance its €900 mln acquisition of 25 retail parks from Ikea, writes Jane Roberts, editor of PropertyEU's new FinanceWatch publication.
The US investment bank underwrote the financing of the entire pan-European portfolio, which includes Ikea-anchored retail parks in eight countries: Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France and Switzerland.
Pradera led a successful €900 mln bid for the assets, with equity capital understood to have come from LJ Partnership, which owns a significant minority stake in Pradera, and LJ’s own minority shareholder, Hong Kong-based Peterson Group.
Pradera has also just held a first closing of its latest European retail park fund, Pradera European Retail Parks SCSp.
Completion of the acquisition of the 17 parks in Germany, France and Poland is expected on 4 April with the remaining eight due to go through by 31 August.
Goldman is currently in the capital markets talking to banks and debt investors about syndicating the 55% LTV loan. It is believed that different banks/debt investors are interested in taking debt secured on the packages of assets in different jurisdictions.
Goldman’s willingness to underwrite the financing of all the assets is thought to have been a significant factor in its winning the financing mandate, a banking source said. There is no long-term 'stay open' guarantee that Ikea will remain trading in the parks, which could also have been an issue for some prospective debt funders.
The US investment bank is likely to be in discussions to sell down at different prices depending on where the assets are. The Scandinavian portion is being offered at somewhere between 220 bps-250 bps.
Ikea
Cushman & Wakefield advised Ikea on the sale and put the portfolio on the market last May, selecting Pradera in September. JLL advised Pradera.
According to PropertyEU’s sister title EuroProperty, Pradera beat Rockspring Property Investment Managers and Savills Investments Management to win the portfolio.
Pradera's CEO David Fletcher told PropertyEU last week: 'These parks have been developed and managed by Ikea Centres and are let to major tenants including Media Markt, OBI, Decathlon and Leroy Merlin. They greatly benefit from the drawing power that Ikea stores brings to these locations.'
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Goldman Sachs is one of over 50 top lenders to European real estate that are profiled in the first edition of FinanceWatch. Limited print copies of the publication are available at Mipim.
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