British Land associate company signs £350m loan

22nd Sep 2011 07:48

Specialist retail warehouse fund Hercules Unit Trust has signed a new £350m five year loan facility underwritten by Aareal Bank AG.The fund, which is advised by British Land, the real-estate investment trust which has a 38.6% interest in the fund, is comprised of an initial term loan and a revolving loan facility. The initial £250m term loan will be used to repay half of the £500m outstanding under the existing credit facility that expires in October 2012. The interest rate on this term loan has been swapped to a fixed rate, so that an all-in rate of 4% per annum including margin and arrangement fees, compared to 5.25% is payable under the existing facility, the group said. A further £100m revolving loan facility has been approved to provide flexibility for the fund to enable acquisitions, disposals and further general business activities. During the last year, British Land has completed £860m of group unsecured loans and a further £595m has been arranged for British Land related joint ventures and funds.NR