Summit Real Estate has secured a new, five-year finance facility for three portfolios of German assets worth some €450 mln.
Summit Real Estate has secured a new, five-year finance facility for three portfolios of German assets worth some €450 mln.
Summit acquired a €120 mln B note of the existing debt and refinanced a €280 mln tranche with a new five-year loan.
The new equity was injected by the parent company, Summit Group, in order to reduce leverage across the three packages.
The portfolio comprises 88 commercial properties with 600,000 m2 of lettable area on 900,000 m2 of land. The properties have been owned by Summit for the last seven years. Their current value equates to €750 per m2, or a total of €450 mln.
Current occupancy across the portfolio is around 90% and Summit believes there is 'significant opportunity for value enhancement through additional development of surplus land, conversion of spaces for residential or further leasing of vacant areas'.
'Securing any finance in Europe is a challenge in the current market, especially for such a large portfolio,' said Zohar Levy, chairman of Summit and the controlling shareholder. 'I believe in the quality of our assets and in our ability to improve them.'
Summit was advised by London-based real estate finance advisers Buchler Barnett Spencer.
Summit Germany raised over €300 mln of equity through a listing on London's Alternative Investment Market in 2006. The company was subsequently acquired by the Summit Group in 2009, and has since been delisted.
Summit Group operates in a variety of sectors including the real estate and energy industries.
