Legal & General : L&G completes three year loan of £39m to GreenOak Real Estate

11 July 2017

LGIM Real Assets (L&G) announces that it has completed a three-year loan of £39M to a fund managed by GreenOak Real Estate, the global investment manager and advisor. The all-in Interest Rate is 2.40%. This is the shortest loan term to date that L&G has provided as it continues to move into areas of the market not traditionally associated with an institution. The loan was arranged on behalf of Legal & General Retirement by Legal & General's Private Credit business - part of LGIM Real Assets.

The loan, which replaces an existing bank loan facility, is secured against 160,000 sq ft of mixed-use space in Whitechapel. 50% of the site is arranged as private rental sector accommodation, comprising 181 residential studios, flats and houses. The rest of the asset is commercial space let mainly to a single, strong credit tenant. The loan will help pave the way for GreenOak Real Estate's longer term goal of redeveloping the site, demonstrating how L&G's money can help support positive urban regeneration, boosting housing and jobs and better utilising our existing infrastructure.

Steve Boyle, Lending Manager at LGIM Real Assets, commented: 'At three years, this is the shortest dated loan that we have yet provided, demonstrating the breadth of our lending capabilities and proving the platform's ability to provide competitively priced debt at the shorter end of the market. This is the very essence of a mixed-use site, but provides us with robust income streams from both its PRS and commercial uses.'

Toby Phelps, Partner of GreenOak said: 'Whitechapel remains a highly strategic location, with next year's arrival of Crossrail providing further impetus for the continued attractiveness of the area. After actively managing this site to significantly increase income whilst maintaining near full occupancy, we have been able to secure new financing that allows us to lower costs while continuing to pursue our longer term goal of redeveloping the site.'

L&G was represented by Pinsent Masons, while GreenOak Real Estate was advised by CAPRA Global Partners and represented by Goodwin Proctor.

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About LGIM Real Assets

LGIM Real Assets is a division of Legal & General Investment Management (LGIM), one of Europe's largest institutional asset managers and a major global investor. LGIM manages £902bn in assets on behalf of over 3,200 clients (as at 31 December 2016), providing products and solutions spanning all asset classes. LGIM Real Assets, headed up by Bill Hughes, has AUM of £23.2bn (as at 31 December 2016), actively investing and managing assets across commercial property, private residential, infrastructure and property lending and, most recently, corporate credit.

LGIM Real Assets' property lending business has now lent over £2 billion across 23 deals. The transaction follows closely behind its recently completed £24.5M debt deal arranged over a seven-year term with Citygrove.

About GreenOak Real Estate

Firm Overview

GreenOak is a partner-owned, real estate investment management and advisory firm, founded in 2010. We operate a highly focused, global investment platform, pursuing independent, discrete strategies in the United States, Asia and Europe. Our senior team members have a long history of working together, creating an experienced and stable foundation for our platform. Throughout the firm, we emphasize cohesive collaboration across all levels and geographies to best serve our clients. Our primary focus is on making disciplined investments in markets that we know well and using our in-house asset management expertise to create value for our clients.

Our Approach

Our dedicated regional teams target middle-market opportunities in gateway cities in the United States, Asia and Europe, where we believe we can increase value and produce strong unlevered returns. Our teams have extensive local knowledge in each target market and the ability to leverage their broad local, regional and global networks. We use our market knowledge and networks to source off-market opportunities where we see pricing discounts and market inefficiencies. We then seek to enhance value further by executing active asset repositioning, refurbishment and redevelopment strategies, with hands-on involvement in daily operations. We are an institutional asset manager, focused on serving our clients, with nimble regional teams to capitalize on the best market opportunities.

http://www.greenoakrealestate.com