TH Real Estate has secured €470 mln of debt financing jointly from ING and LBBW on a portfolio of 10 European assets.
The properties, located in the UK, France and Germany, are held in its Cityhold Office Partnership Fund (CHOP). CHOP is a €1.8 bn pan-European office vehicle created in 2015 by TH Real Estate's US parent TIAA CREF and Swedish funds AP1 & AP2.
Altogether CHOP’s platform comprises 250,000 m2 of core office space across the UK, France and Germany.
'The prime and core nature of the real estate, moderate leverage requirements, and quality of the sponsors were key factors in attracting a high level of interest from real estate lenders. ING and LBBW were able to provide us with significant balance sheet/underwriting capacity and the added benefit of funding in both euro and sterling denominations. These factors have cemented their roles as our key relationship lenders,' commented Farrah Brown, head of treasury at TH Real Estate.
The €240 mln UK refinancing for the four London assets was secured at a 35% loan to value (LTV) on a seven-year term. The portfolio includes 60 Great Portland Street, W1, 12-14 New Fetter Lane, EC4, Belgrave House, SW1 and 40 Holborn Viaduct, EC1 (pictured).
Competitive debt terms
The €230.9 mln continental European refinancing was secured on four assets in France and two in Germany. They include four assets in Paris – 70 Boulevard de Courcelles, 69 Avenue Franklin Roosevelt, 154 Rue de l’Universite & 36 Rue Lafayette – and the Atlantic Haus and Burstah assets in Hamburg. Financing on these assets was secured at a 50% LTV on a 10-year term.
'The financing of these assets will allow us to continue to deliver strong investment returns for our investors with sufficient flexibility to enable us to grow our CHOP portfolio across Europe,' added Brown.
'The competitive debt terms are credit to the high quality of the underlying real estate and is expected to drive long-term performance from the existing portfolio,' noted Jasper Gilbey, fund manager, Cityhold Office Partnership, TH Real Estate. 'CHOP will equally seek to build on both the UK and continental European facilities as it seeks to grow the current portfolio to €4 bn+ via new acquisitions – focusing on core and emerging office markets located in key continental European cities in the near future.'
Eastdil Secured advised CHOP on the refinancing.
