This Week's London Deal Sheet
A weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email tim.clark@bisnow.com.
Canadian asset management giant Brookfield has sold 2 London Wall Place in the City of London for £300M.
Hong Kong investor Kingboard Holdings has acquired the office scheme from Brookfield. It was under offer in 2020 for £70M less than the now-confirmed sale price.
According to CoStar, the deal represents a 3.98% yield for Brookfield on the 190K SF office, which is let to Clearly Gottlieb, MHA Macintyre Hudson and Barnett Waddingham.
The sale of 2 London Wall Place follows on from Brookfield’s disposal of 1 London Wall Place to AGC Equity Partners for £480M in 2020.
Brookfield developed the London Wall office schemes in partnership with Oxford Properties having acquired the site in 2017. Brookfield bought out Oxford Properties’ 50% stake in the scheme in 2020 and hired CBRE and BH2 to help look for buyers for the entire site shortly after.
FINANCE
Chinese developer R&F has agreed a £770M-plus financing package for One Nine Elms that will provide the expected funding necessary to complete the scheme.
Précis Capital Partners originated the loan and arranged a consortium of lenders with development finance expertise including funds managed by Apollo Global Management, Carlyle’s global credit platform and Crosstree Real Estate Partners. It also provided some of the debt itself.
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Patrizia has completed the first close of a €100M fund that it states will drive sustainability in the built environment.
The Sustainable Future Ventures fund has raised an initial €50M to invest in tech with the majority of the capital invested from German institutional investors. SFV is led by Patrizia partners Conan Lauterpacht and Matthew Chagan and will invest in startup ventures globally but focus especially on Europe.
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Segro has secured a €225M placement of 15- and 20-year senior unsecured loan notes with a group of institutional investors.
The debt issue consists of two tranches, both of which will be drawn down in September 2022. The first is set at €50M at a fixed coupon of 3.87%, with the debt due in 2037; and a separate €175M tranche at a fixed coupon of 4.14% due in 2042.
This translates to a weighted average coupon of 4.08% and a weighted average maturity of 18.9 years.
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Puma Property Finance has backed a 26-storey residential scheme in north-west London by providing £65M in financing.
The development at Stonebridge Park will create 141 apartments over the next three years, of which 56 will be affordable housing. The project is being developed by a joint venture featuring Latimer Developments, the development arm of the UK’s largest provider of social housing, Clarion Housing Group, together with developers Londonewcastle and Cervidae, and aims to address the acute housing shortage in the capital.
The apartments are being developed with sustainability credentials front of mind, including a zero-carbon target and enhancing biodiversity through new habitat creation.
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Précis Capital has provided an £80M whole loan facility, in partnership with Carlyle’s global credit platform and global financial services group Nomura, to EPISO 5, a fund managed by Tristan Capital Partners.
The loan will be used to fund the development of 'The Oren', a premium later living development in Hampstead, London.
Expected to be delivered in 2024, The Oren scheme aims to help meet the UK’s well-documented undersupply of high-quality and purpose-built retirement living schemes. M will oversee the scheme’s development and subsequent operation.
SALES
French multinational hospitality firm Accor is in talks to sell a 10.8% stake in hotel operator Ennismore to a Qatari consortium for €185M (£159M), implying an enterprise value for Ennismore of more than €2B (£1.7B).
The deal will include €20M (£17M) of Shari'a compliant financing by Qatar First Bank to the Qatari consortium's investment vehicle.
Closing is expected to occur in the second semester of 2022 and is subject to the employee consultation process, customary regulatory authorisations and closing conditions.
On completion, Accor will retain a controlling stake of 62.2% in Ennismore, with the remaining shares held by Sharan Pasricha, co-chief executive of Ennismore, and the new incoming investors.
LEASES
UK REIT Helical has managed to secure 100% occupancy at its Bower scheme in Old Street. Data financing platform Stenn Technologies has taken 9.5K SF on the 12th floor of the Tower, which forms part of the mixed-use Bower scheme, on a five-year lease.
Helical stated that the rent achieved was in line with March ERV. The Tower has a total of 171K SF and Helical has achieved an average contracted rent of £73.46 per SF to a diverse customer base.
Stenn Technologies, which has buyers and suppliers in 74 countries, is a fast-growing online platform for financing SME businesses that are engaged in international trade. Helical was advised by Compton and JLL. Stenn Technologies was advised by Colliers.
PEOPLE
Schroders Capital has hired Chris Santer as a fund manager on its UK Real Estate team. Santer will be responsible for selecting investment strategies that seek to have a measurable positive social and environmental impact, whilst also delivering attractive financial returns.
Santer has more than 25 years’ experience across commercial, residential and impact real estate investing including, most recently, a focus on healthcare investing as chief investment officer at Primary Health Properties. Prior to this, he held various roles on pan-European and UK-only real estate funds at PGIM and MGPA.
