Anglo-German firm Taylor Wessing and City-firm Macfarlanes have both landed leading roles on a major refinancing deal as the real estate market continues to see an upturn.
Taylor Wessing advised a syndicate of lenders including the Royal Bank of Scotland, Wells Fargo and Legal & General Pensions in their capacity as agent and arranger for the refinancing of a portfolio of over 160 multi-let industrial properties in England, Wales and Scotland, worth a gross value of over £1bn. Macfarlanes advised the owner of the portfolio, the Industrial Property Investment Fund, an investment fund managed by Legal & General.
Leading the deal for Taylor Wessing was finance partner Ross Caldwell with others involved including the firm’s head of finance Rodney Dukes, real estate partner Raman Sharma, and tax partner Richard Carson.
Macfarlanes’ debt finance transactions partner Jat Bains advised the Legal & General-managed Industrial Property Investment Fund.
Commenting on increased activity in real estate, Taylor Wessing’s Caldwell said: ‘This transaction reflects the current state of the real estate finance market in which we are seeing a marked upturn in the number and size of deals, including the industrial property sector. We look forward to continuing to represent our clients in this thriving and dynamic market.’
The new debt facilities refinanced existing £210m facilities that are due to expire in September next year and also comprised an additional term loan of £65m as well as a revolving facility working capital line of £75m.
Arranged over a six-year term, the £350m facilities support the Industrial Property Investment Fund through its recently extended life-span and provide it with ‘significantly increased firepower with which to seek attractive market investment opportunities’.
Sarah.downey@legalease.co.uk
