Warwickshire-based IM Properties, one of the UK’s largest privately owned property investment and development groups, has secured new senior debt funding totalling £146.1 million from RBS, Handelsbanken and Lloyds Banking Group in three separate transactions.
A funding package of £36.7 million has been granted by RBS, replacing existing facilities with the bank, which expired in May. An additional £26.4 million has been secured from Handelsbanken against IM Properties’ recent £44 million purchase of the Mell Square shopping centre in Solihull.
In May this year, IM Properties also completed an £83 million refinancing of the Santander and Clydesdale investment property portfolios with Lloyds Banking Group. All funding packages have been extended for five years.
The senior debt funding encompasses IM Properties’ portfolios of offices and industrial properties stretching from the South East to the Midlands, including the company’s Birch Coppice Business Park near Tamworth, which is home to the first speculatively built industrial unit for five years.
These refinancing facilities have increased IM Properties’ average unexpired term from 2.6 years at 31 December 2012 to over 3.8 years, providing the group with a secure platform from which to continue developing the business.
Adrian Clarke, finance director for IM Properties, said: “These refinancing deals reflect the strong relationship IM Properties has with its banking partners. We have completed transactions raising nearly £150m of debt so far this year in what remains a challenging lending market.
“Combining our cash reserves with robust banking facilities such as these provides a solid platform from which to continue growing our business. This provides us with certainty for the next few years, ensuring that we are able to achieve our aspirations for a number of key projects currently in the development pipeline.
IM Properties is the award-winning developer behind North Warwickshire’s Birch Coppice Business Park, one of the region’s biggest employment success stories of recent years, as well as BMW’s new €45 million flagship logistics hub in Munich, Germany.
The company recently acquired premier Birmingham industrial park and development site The Hub and its rental portfolio boasts a number of landmark, institutional grade offices in Guildford and prime retail warehousing on Purley Way in Croydon.
