Wereldhave has bounced back after its failed bond issue late last year by securing a revolving credit facility with a syndicate of five banks.

Wereldhave has bounced back after its failed bond issue late last year by securing a revolving credit facility with a syndicate of five banks.

The value of the loan comes to €300 mln. The Amsterdam-listed property company announced on 28 March that the credit facility will be used to refinance its existing €270 mln facility which was due to expire in mid-2015.

Back in November 2013 Wereldhave shelved plans to offer €220 mln in five-year convertible bonds because of 'insufficient interest' for the issue. 'Wereldhave will continue to explore refinancing options in order to optimise its debt maturity profile at attractive terms for its shareholders,' the company said at the time.

The new bank financing extends Wereldhave’s average maturity of available credit lines, decreases its average cost of debt and reduces the cost on undrawn commitments due to a lower margin. The transaction was initially launched for €250 mln but due to oversubscription increased to €300 mln with maturity in March 2019. The covenants are in line with other existing facilities.

The consortium of banks consists of ABN-Amro, Barclays, BNP Paribas, ING and The Royal Bank of Scotland.

At end-2013, Wereldhave’s loan-to-value stood at 27.4%, the interest coverage ratio at 6.6x and the average cost of debt at 2.8%.

Wereldhave - like other Dutch listed property companies - has in recent years adapted its strategy to meet the challenges of the post-crisis market conditions in Europe. For Wereldhave, this means dropping its previous ambition to be a multi-market and diversified player on two continents. In early 2013, the company decided instead to focus on shopping centres in Finland, the Netherlands and Belgium and offices in Paris.

This led to the disposal of €900 mln of assets last year as it pulled out of the US and UK, and disposed of non-core assets in the Netherlands. Wereldhave had €1.7 bn of investment property across its European portfolio at end-2013.