Global real estate investment manager LaSalle Investment Management has announced the extension of the LaSalle Residential Finance (LRF) programme by a further £476 mln (€570 mln), increasing the total size of the LRF programme to £1.3 bn.
LRF, which is backed by main investor APG, and was established in 2013, provides higher-leverage financing to property development across the UK and Western Europe, with a focus on student housing, residential, hotel and healthcare development.
Amy Klein Aznar, head of debt investments and special situations at LaSalle Investment Management, said: 'We are excited to have further extended the LRF programme which continues to be backed by main investor APG.
'LRF focuses on bed-based investments and, in particular, on specific segments such as senior living and build to rent which remain structurally undersupplied. This marks the fifteenth debt investment completed on behalf of the LRF programme.'
Along with the news of the capital raise, LaSalle has also announced the provision of a £106 mln loan facility from LRF to finance the development of two luxury retirement villages in the South of England.
Extended to a recently formed JV between Audley Group, Schroders Real Estate and Octopus Real Estate, the facility is secured against the planned projects in Stanbridge Earls in Romsey, Hampshire, and Sunningdale Park in Sunningdale, Berkshire.
The two assets will be developed by the joint venture and operated by Audley, providing over 250 for-sale residential units for over-65s.
The financing follows the announcement in August 2019 that Audley Group has formed a joint venture with the UK retirement living fund, managed by Schroders Real Estate and Octopus Real Estate, to develop four sector-leading retirement villages with over 500 units in total, representing a total value of around £400 mln.
Daniel Pottorff, managing director of debt investments and special situations at LaSalle Investment Management, said: 'We are delighted to have provided this financing solution to the joint venture which further strengthens our relationship with the Audley team, having extended a loan from the LRF programme to the Group in 2017 for an urban retirement scheme in Clapham, London.
'This investment exemplifies our strategy of investing in demographically compelling segments of the residential market.'
