Three new loans for Starwood European

Starwood European Real Estate Finance Limited  has committed to three new loans for a total of EUR133.35 million.

Irish School, Dublin: On 31 March 2017 the Group advanced an EUR18.85 million 3 year floating rate whole loan to support the acquisition and repositioning of a South Dublin office building in the Republic of Ireland. The building will be converted for educational use with a new lease to a premium global education company. The sponsor, Barry O’Callaghan, is a highly regarded local investor with deep experience in the education sector. The transaction represents a continuation of the Company’s lending strategy in Ireland, and adds to the diversity of its portfolio with its first loan backed by an educational use.

Hotel, Barcelona: On 31 March 2017 the Group advanced a EUR46.0 million 4 year floating rate whole loan relating for the acquisition of a 4-star, 240-key hotel in central Barcelona’s 22@ district. The borrower is a partnership between institutional-quality investors with track records of successful hotel acquisitions throughout Europe. The hotel is well-positioned to benefit from the sponsors’ active asset management strategy in a Barcelona market with appealing hospitality performance metrics and high barriers to entry. The transaction represents the Group’s entry to the Spanish market, a large market opportunity with attractive real estate fundamentals and macroeconomic growth trends.

Industrial Portfolio, Central and Eastern Europe: On 30 March 2017 the Group committed to provide a EUR68.5 million whole loan relating to the acquisition of a portfolio of industrial assets located across Central and Eastern Europe. The three year floating rate loan represents the opportunity to further diversify geographically and support a strong sponsor with a proven track record. EUR26.5 million of the loan was funded on 30 March 2017 with the remaining commitment expected to be funded in the coming weeks.

The Group has also extended the revolving credit facility from the existing maturity of 31 March 2017 to 31 March 2018 for an amount of £50 million. As part of the terms of the new facility there is an uncommitted ‘Accordion’ feature which would allow the Group to increase the facilities in size up to £100 million by bringing additional lenders into the facility.

In the context of the first quarter of any year normally being particularly quiet this level of investment activity is a strong performance for the Group and has also enabled the Group to quickly re-invest the proceeds from the two repayments also received in March. Once these commitments are fully funded the Group will be fully invested with approximately £20m drawn on the revolving credit facility. The Group has a number of other opportunities currently under review and remains optimistic that should these opportunities proceed, the Group would look to raise equity later this year.

SWEF : Three new loans for Starwood European