France's SFL places EUR 500m bond

French REIT Société Foncière Lyonnaise has completed the placement of a EUR 500 mln five-year bond with a coupon of 3.5%.

'This new issue, which is in line with the strategy launched in 2011 to diversify SFL’s financing sources, strengthens the group's liquidity position and extends the average maturity of its debt,' SFL said in a statement. The interest rate is below that of the May 2011 inaugural bond issue and is also lower than the group's average borrowing cost.

BNPP, CACIB, HSBC, Natixis and SGCIB acted as lead managers for the issue and CM-CIC as co-lead manager.

SFL owns a portfolio of properties valued at EUR 3.4 bn, mainly located in the central business district of Paris.