UK REIT Hammerson said on Friday it has signed a £420 mln (€534 mln) unsecured revolving credit facility (RCF) at an initial margin of 90 basis points with a syndicate of eight international banks.
The new facility has a maturity of five years which may be extended to a maximum of seven years on Hammerson’s request and on each bank’s approval for their participation. It will refinance the existing £150 mln RCF which would have matured in April 2017 and which featured a margin of 150 basis points.
Hammerson said the existing £150 mln facility will be cancelled resulting in a net increase of £270 mln of undrawn facilities. This increase in liquidity will be used to partially refinance the €1.5 bn RCF used for recent investments in Ireland and Birmingham, it added. Following the signing of this new RCF, the total committed financing available to Hammerson is approximately £4.4 bn.
‘It is encouraging that the RCF is on the same attractive terms that we set in April 2015 and four new major international banks have joined our relationship group,’ said Timon Drakesmith, Chief Financial Officer of Hammerson. ‘We believe this bank facility is the largest arranged by a UK property company so far this year.’
Lloyds Bank acted as coordinator for the facility and HSBC Bank was appointed as facility agent. Bank of China, China Construction Bank Corporation, Lloyds Bank, Mizuho Bank and Wells Fargo Bank International were appointed mandated lead arrangers and bookrunners. Commitments were also provided by Barclays Bank, Crédit Industriel et Commercial and HSBC Bank.
