6th May 2005 13:03
6 May 2005 LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL PLC ‚£710 MILLION NON-RECOURSE FINANCING SECURED ON BRAEHEAD, RENFREW, GLASGOW, AND THE HARLEQUIN, WATFORD Liberty International PLC, through its wholly owned subsidiary, CapitalShopping Centres PLC ("CSC"), has today entered into two new 10 yearnon-recourse term loan facilities totalling ‚£710 million secured on two ofCSC's regional shopping centres, Braehead, Renfrew, Glasgow, and The Harlequin,Watford.The new loans of ‚£406.5 million in respect of Braehead and ‚£303.5 million inrespect of The Harlequin are being provided by way of term finance fromEurohypo, the specialist commercial real estate bank, via its conduit vehicle,Opera Finance (CSC 3) plc. Opera's participation is being funded through theissue of ‚£710 million of floating-rate commercial mortgage-backed securities(CMBS). RBS and UBS acted as joint bookrunners on the issue.This financing continues Liberty International's programme of raising long-termasset-backed non-recourse finance and the structure again enables LibertyInternational to obtain capital market debt pricing while retaining theflexibility of a bank loan. The underlying LIBOR rate has been fixed for theterm of the loans at 5.03 per cent and the blended margin, excluding the ‚£60million BBB tranche which Liberty International is retaining, is around 0.27per cent over LIBOR resulting in an overall rate of 5.30 per cent before costs.The transaction follows the structure used for the ‚£650 million refinancing ofLakeside, Thurrock, CSC's flagship regional shopping centre, in August 2004,and the ‚£600 million financing of MetroCentre, Gateshead, in February 2005. Thestructure of the loan continues to provide CSC with full flexibility toimplement its active management approach at Braehead and The Harlequin.The proceeds will be used, after repayment of the ‚£172.5 million loan currentlyoutstanding on The Harlequin, to substantially refinance the ‚£653 millionacquisition by CSC in March 2005 of 50 per cent of Prudential Assurance CompanyLimited's interests in Cribbs Causeway, Bristol, and the Manchester Arndaleshopping centre, two of the UK's leading regional shopping centres.Donald Gordon, Chairman of Liberty International, commented:"We are very pleased to have worked again with Eurohypo as arranger, and withRBS and UBS as joint bookrunners, on this CMBS issue secured on Braehead,Renfrew, Glasgow, and The Harlequin, Watford which substantially enhances ouroverall debt structure as we continue to pursue our development programme.Demand is still strong in the capital markets for highly-rated debt securitiesbacked by premium assets such as our regional shopping centres and usingEurohypo's CMBS funded loan structure has once more enabled us to access theattractive costs of financing available through these markets."ENQUIRIES:Aidan Smith, Finance Director, Liberty International +44 (0)20 7960 1210 PLC Peter Badcock, Director, Capital Shopping Centres +44 (0)20 7887 7069 PLC ADDITIONAL NOTES ON LIBERTY INTERNATIONAL PLC GROUP FOR INFORMATION:Liberty International PLC is the UK's third largest listed property companywith investment properties exceeding ‚£6 billion and a constituent of theFTSE-100 Index of the UK's leading listed companies. Liberty International owns100 per cent of Capital Shopping Centres, the premier UK regional shoppingcentre business, and Capital & Counties, a commercial and retail propertyinvestment and development company concentrating in Central London, South EastEngland and California, USA.Braehead shopping centre and retail park, Renfrew, Glasgow, opened 5 years agoin September 1999 and offers 1.06 million sq.ft. of retail and leisure with 117shops and stores, a 4000 seat arena and skating and curling rinks. The centreis located approximately 5 miles to the west of Glasgow city centre on thesouth bank of the River Clyde, easily accessible from the M8 motorway. Inaddition to the shopping centre and retail park which are the subject of thisfinancing, CSC is involved in substantial regeneration activity relating to afurther 165 acres at Braehead including some 1,350 new homes, a riverside parkand walkway, and Xscape, a 460,000 sq.ft. leisure scheme providing Scotland'sfirst indoor real snow ski slope, a multiplex cinema, bowling and restaurantsscheduled to open in 2006. CSC also has planning consent for some 750,000sq.ft. of office space. Work has started on the first residential developmentand on the Xscape complex.The Harlequin, located at the heart of Watford town centre, has excellent linksto the M25 and M1. Anchored by John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Bhs, it offers724,000 sq.ft. of retail space with 146 shops and stores, cafes andrestaurants, and a comprehensive range of customer facilities.In March 2005, the Liberty International group acquired 50 per cent of thePrudential group's overall interests in two of the UK's leading regionalshopping centres, The Mall at Cribbs Causeway, Bristol and the ManchesterArndale Shopping Centre, and associated properties, for an aggregateconsideration of ‚£653 million.ENDLiberty International plcRelated Shares:
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