Pan-European fund manager Aerium has taken a €104 mln loan with Japanese lender Nomura to refinance debt owned by Lone Star, secured on Aerium's H20 Luxembourg office building.
Aerium CEO Franck Ruimy said the new three-year loan enables his team to complete the re-leasing of the 26,000 m2 building and repay the loan owned by Lone Star.
Lone Star acquired the debt secured on H20 via its acquisition of Commerzbank's pan-European performing and non-performing loan portfolio which it bought with JPMorgan in 2015. 'The loan had matured, but Lone Star agreed to give us a six-month extension to arrange the refinancing. They were very accommodating,' Ruimy said.
The new loan is at relatively high gearing of 70% LTV and it is the first time that Aerium has borrowed from Nomura.
The H20 asset, built in 2006 in 'Ban de Gasperich', south of Luxembourg City, has been owned by Aerium’s €850 mln, 10-year life pan-European fund for about eight years. Ruimy said that the strategy is to complete its leasing and then sell it.
After its largest occupier, BNP Paribas, moved to a new local headquarters, and some re-lettings, there is a further 10,000 m2 to lease up.
Ruimy said the pick-up in interest from potential tenants this year due to Brexit has been marked. 'For that specific building, we had low interest until January this year. Since then, we’ve been getting requests on a weekly basis, from UK and international companies based in the UK, looking at expanding or moving some of their operations into Luxembourg.
'We see that as well in Frankfurt and other cities as a result of Brexit. There’s clearly an uptick.'
Roger Cattermole, a managing director at Nomura, said: 'We see strong value in the asset and fully support the management team in their strategy to lease the available space in the property.'
Rents in the Ban de Gasperich area are about €25-€27 per m2 compared to €40 per m2 in Luxembourg's city centre.
