Dutch bank ING has led the bank consortium providing a €750 mln loan to finance the purchase of a portfolio of eight buildings in Paris by a joint venture of UK investor Chelsfield Partners and the Saudi Olayan Group.
Dutch bank ING has led the bank consortium providing a €750 mln loan to finance the purchase of a portfolio of eight buildings in Paris by a joint venture of UK investor Chelsfield Partners and the Saudi Olayan Group.
ING has teamed up with French banks BNP Paribas, CACIB, and Société Générale to grant the loan.
ING acted as global coordinator and financial advisor, Société Générale as hedge coordinator, and BNP Paribas Real Estate as investment advisor. CACIB will be the facility agent.
The lenders were advised by Gide Loyrette Nouel and the notary office Cheuvreux & Associés.
Chelsfield Partners and the Olayan Group completed the purchase of the 70,000 m2 portfolio last month from Risanamento, the troubled Italian developer. The transaction price of nearly €1.2 bn represented a 16% premium to the assets’ latest appraised value of €1.05 bn.
Chelsfield is controlled by Qatar Holding, the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar, together with the Olayan Group, the Bank of East Asia and the family interests of Elliott Bernerd and Sir Stuart Lipton.
The transaction marked the return of Middle Eastern investors to the French real estate market after months of limited investment activity. The deal was also one of the largest commercial property acquisitions signed in France since the start of the financial crisis in 2008.
Major assets in the portfolio are 50 Avenue Montaigne, which was bought in 2005 from Unibail-Rodamco for €233 mln as well as the Actualis mixed-use building acquired at the peak of the market in 2006 from Financière Pinault for €230 mln. The office and retail scheme provides 20,000 m2 of space at the corner of Rue de la Chaussée d’Antin and Boulevard Haussmann.
The assets are largely located in the prime Triangle D’Or area in the eighth district of Paris and generated €35.6 mln of rents in the first nine months of the year, up 9.5% on the same period a year before.
BNP Paribas Real Estate will be the property managers and Chelsfield the asset managers.