Hines seals £410m financing package for Cannon Street office project in London

The UK arm of international real estate company Hines said it has sealed a total £410 mln (EUR 550 mln) financing package for its Cannon Street office redevelopment project in London. Specifically, it has agreed upon a £ 300 mln debt package with HSH Nordbank, as well as a £ 110 mln equity co-investment agreement with Candar Finance SARL, a private investment vehicle owned by the principal shareholders in UK-listed, Russian property developers PIK.

Hines said a development agreement has been sealed with Network Rail to enable the project involving the redevelopment of the office building over the Cannon Street Station to take place. Hines noted the financial backing from HSH Nordbank bucks the current negative outlook for commercial space in central London. Claudio Lagemann, Global Head of Real Estate at HSH Nordbank said, ‘Both the real estate concept and the location of the project development have convinced us. To us, London represents one of the key markets for office real estate, which will continue to be marked by keen long-term demand among corporate tenants and international real estate investors.’

The Cannon Street development involves the creation of new state-of-the-art offices and retail space. The development, designed by Foggo Associates, will be composed of more than 400,000 sq ft (37,161 m2) of office space, plus 17,000 sq ft of retail accommodation. Construction is set to get underway this summer, with completion scheduled for 2010.