2nd Mar 2005 15:12
British Land Co PLC02 March 2005 2 March 2005 BROADGATE REFINANCING The British Land Company PLC ("British Land") has today completed the £2.1billion refinancing of the Broadgate Estate. As a result of this transaction, Broadgate Financing PLC, a ring fencedsubsidiary of British Land, has issued £2.080 billion of bonds at an averageinterest rate of 5.05%. The weighted average maturity of the new bonds is 20years. After repayment of existing debt previously securitised on the Estate, the costsof closing out hedging arrangements and payment of transaction costs, the netadditional amount of financing raised from the transaction is approximately £500million. British Land's future interest charges will be reduced by approximately£13 million per year. Tighter pricing of the bonds has resulted in a £1 milliongreater annual interest saving compared with the indicative amount announced on21 January 2005. The transaction will result in British Land incurring an exceptional accountingcharge against pre-tax profits in the second half of its financial year ending31 March 2005 of some £180 million mainly due to the difference between theredemption value and book/nominal value of its existing Broadgate debt. Aftertaxation, the impact on British Land's NNNAV, "triple net" asset value, that isbroadly NAV less the FRS13 disclosure and less contingent capital gains, is areduction of less than 3p per share. NAV will be reduced by 24p per share. Commenting on the issue Nick Ritblat, a director of British Land, said:"This major refinancing of the Broadgate Estate through the issue of over £2billion of bonds has raised additional long term funding for British Land. Thefinancing secures the entire Broadgate Estate in a single enlargedsecuritisation structure with improved prepayment provisions and sufficientflexibility to address British Land's current business needs. "The transaction reduces British Land's interest charge going forward andextends the maturity of its borrowings whilst significantly improving the freeasset ratio." Enquiries: The British Land Company PLC John Weston Smith Tel.: +44 20 7467 2899Nick Ritblat Tel.: +44 20 7467 2890Peter Clarke Tel.: +44 20 7467 2886 Notes to editors:The Broadgate Estate is the premier City of London office estate. It comprisesover 370,000 sq m (4.0 million sq ft) of office, retail and leisureaccommodation on a 12 hectare (30 acre) site adjoining Liverpool Street stationwith mainline and underground rail connections. The assembly of the entireestate into British Land's ownership was completed by the acquisition in March2003 of the virtual freehold interest at 1 Appold Street. Construction of 10Exchange Square, adding a further 15,180 sq m (163,400 sq ft) to the Estate, wasrecently completed in May 2004. Broadgate Estates Limited, a wholly ownedsubsidiary of British Land, manages the estate and maintains the external andcommon areas. Approximately 30,000 employees are based at Broadgate, which formsa distinctive environment for some of the world's largest corporations andleading professional practices, including ABN AMRO, Allianz Dresdner, AshurstMorris Crisp, Barclays Bank, Baring Investment Services, Deutsche Bank, EuropeanBank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD), F&C Management, Herbert Smith,Lehman Brothers, Royal Bank of Scotland, Societe Generale, Sumitomo Trust, Bankof Tokyo Mitsubishi and UBS. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
British Land