May 2012 Issue

Allegations of interest rate swap mis-selling by banks to borrowers have gained much press attention recently. The issue has been likened to that of payment protection insurance mis-selling, suggesting it will be the next big financial scandal, leading to lawsuits and mass compensation. But there are few similarities between these  products. The commercial effects of […]

UK market overview The Jones Lang LaSalle Balanced Fund Index continued to fall in April following February and March’s decreases, losing a further 0.11%, writes Ashley Marks. Previously, the index had been positive since July 2009, flattening towards the end of 2011. The index is positive by just 1.42% over the past 12 months; or […]

The Crown Estate and AXA are the initial partners in Norges Bank Investment Management’s push to invest up to €50bn of Norwegian sovereign wealth in property, reports Alex Catalano

Capital raising has been brisk for low-risk/high-return junior debt funds, reports Jane Roberts

A £1.3bn Bank of Ireland loan portfolio was the debut European debt purchase for the US investor

Non-performing loan buyers can quickly turn around problem assets, reports Jane Roberts

Deals by US equity funds lead pick-up in non-performing property debt sales, reports Jane Roberts

Outstanding UK property debt totals £299bn, but is 14% down on last year, De Montfort reveals

Speakers at LBS’s real estate conference tackled the travails of capital raising, writes Alex Catalano

Debtors will be repaid their £780m in full, thanks to £825m investment by Guy Hands’ fund

Sale to TPG and Patron Capital leaves subordinate noteholders empty handed, writes Jane Roberts

The trend for non-traditional lenders to move into the property lending gap left by the banks is picking up. In the past few weeks Aviva, Legal & General and Prudential/M&G have all been active and insurers have made some of the biggest senior loans so far this year. They are venturing into new sectors and […]

Safetstore’s £73m US private placement issue is a first for self-storage

SWIP’s Naish set to step down Malcolm Naish, head of real estate at Scottish Widows Investment Partnership (SWIP), is to retire next month when an announce-ment about the management of the business will be made. Naish joined from DTZ in October 2007 and spent much of the last year overseeing the integration of £2.4bn of […]

Aviva Commercial Finance’s £100m loan to Big Yellow is the first by an insurer to a self storage business. The 15-year loan is at 4.9% fixed, about 200 basis points above the swap rate, and just above the 4.8% cost of the debt it refinances. It is secured on 15 freehold stores valued at £242m, […]

M&G Investments has made one of the largest senior loans seen this year, at a high margin said to be more than 400 basis points. UK insurer Prudential’s fund management arm advanced all £266m of a senior loan to Round Hill Capital for the private equity group’s acquisition of Nido Student Living. Round Hill Capital, […]

Commercial real estate lending business debuts with £121m facility for student housing provider

All noteholder classes in the Europrop transaction (EMC IV) could face losses, given the short amount of time until the notes’ legal final maturity next April. The work-out is further complicated by the fact that the remaining €521.8m loan, Sunrise (seven pre-paid), is syndicated between Europrop and DECO 9, which doesn’t have bond maturity until […]

Only a quarter of loans due to mature in year to date have been repaid Just 14 of the 52 loans that were originally scheduled to mature in the year to date have been repaid so far, Fitch Ratings’ May CMBS roundup showed. Loan extensions increased to 40% from 37% in April, while the number […]

Wells Fargo is selling nine secondary German properties valued at €100m as a result of its enforcement of a €150m senior loan made by Wachovia. The US bank inherited the  defaulted loan, which has matured, when it bought Wachovia in 2008. Its subsidiary, Eastdil Secured, is marketing the 19% vacant Project Phoenix portfolio, along with […]

Henderson is guide to Silk Road Henderson has been appointed adviser to a group of investors in Chinese designer outlet centres, in a joint venture called Silk Road Holdings. The investors include the Italian Fingen Group, Gaw Capital Partners of Hong Kong, Sino-US Waitex and a US institution. Fingen’s property development company RDM Asia is the […]

M&G Investments has confirmed that it plans to launch a senior debt fund. M&G, which makes senior loans using capital from affiliates of its Prudential insurer parent, hopes to pool further in-house capital with third-party investors as soon as possible and to raise between £1bn and £2bn. In-house clients are expected to seed the fund […]

Manager to launch senior fund and vehicle targeting higher LTV levels

AEW Europe has teamed up with a fixed-income asset manager which will oversee the AEW Senior European Loans Fund. AEW Europe chief executive officer Christian Delaire said he could not name the partner until the manager gets a licence to operate for the Luxembourg-based fund in France. “Our strategy is pure fixed- income senior lending […]

CLS Holdings has agreed an innovative ‘conditional’ arrangement for hedging its latest loan facility. The quoted property firm replaced an expiring Eurohypo loan secured on Spring Gardens in Vauxhall, London, with a £78.5m, four-year RBS and Deutsche Postbank club facility. The offices are let on RPI leases to the Home Office for another 14 years. CLS […]

SEB becomes latest manager to call time on German open-ended fund SEB ImmoInvest is to be liquidated, forcing it to sell €6bn of assets over the next five years. The German open-ended fund received more claims for redemptions than the liquidity available when it re-opened on 7 May after being frozen for two years. The […]

Cerberus and Kennedy Wilson are among those to make the shortlist for latest big non-performing loan deal, as Lloyds offers €400m Irish portfolio