Aviva Investors backs Helical with £124m financing

Aviva Investors has given Helical £124m (€141.4m) to help the London listed property investor refinance its assets.

The asset manager said the loan facility has been provided to assist with the refinance of two additional assets, The Loom, Gowers Walk, London and Churchgate and Lee House, Manchester as well as existing charged asset, The Shepherds Building, Shepherds Bush, London.

The facility extends Aviva Investors relationship with Helical by £45m, with the secured portfolio extending to more than 500,000sqft generating rents of £13m per annum.

Funding for the facility has been provided by three of Aviva Investors’ managed mandates, providing a mix of fixed and floating rate debt for the full term to December 2024.

Gregor Bamert, the head of real estate finance at Aviva Investors, said: “We are delighted to continue to support Helical’s debt requirements as part of its ongoing strategy.

“These are good quality assets which have been identified as key to Helical’s portfolio, and have benefitted from an effective hands-on management approach, with recent investment in all three assets.”

Bamert added that the facility also demonstrates Aviva’s ability to deliver sponsors with a mix of both traditional fixed rate and new floating rate funds using multiple mandates, providing both certainty and flexibility in a single facility.

Aviva Investors is the asset management business of the insurer Aviva.

Tim Murphy, the finance director at Helical, said: “Aviva Investors have been a core provider of long term debt to Helical since 2014 and I am delighted that we have increased the existing facility to £124m.

“This increased facility provides the long term commitment and flexibility that we are looking for in our debt providers and its timing enables us to lock into current low finance rates”