Cromwell European REIT secures €625m facility for debt refinancing

Cromwell European REIT secures €625m facility for debt refinancing

Real estate investor and manager Cromwell Property Group has assisted Cromwell EREIT Management to raise and conduct a €625 million unsecured debt refinance, on behalf of Cromwell European REIT (CEREIT).

This sees CEREIT’s weighted average term of debt extended to 3.6 years while maintaining its attractive cost of funding at approximately 1.50%.

As at 30 September 2019, Cromwell European REIT had an aggregate leverage of 37.0%, up from 35.4% as at 30 June 2019, largely due to loans drawn to partially finance its recent acquisitions. This continues to sit comfortably within CEREIT’s preferred gearing range.

Cromwell’s Head of Real Estate Finance, Europe, Gwendal Kalkofen commented: “It is great to have been instrumental in the successful raise of €625 million in unsecured debt in support of CEREIT’s transformational capital initiative. This pan-global debt restructure required strong global banking relationships across multiple jurisdictions and time zones.”

“We are delighted to have worked on the deal with a broad range of capital partners including ING (Global Coordinator, Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner), Crédit Agricole CIB and Standard Chartered Bank (Mandated Lead Arranger and Bookrunner) as well as Banca IMI (a subsidiary of Intesa Sanpaolo Group) and Banque Européenne du Crédit Mutuel.”

ING’s Head of Real Estate Sector Benelux, Arie Hubers commented: “Our relationship with Cromwell underlines ING’s capability to support clients across continents and capital structures through our geographical footprint and products. We are excited that we are part of this landmark transaction for CEREIT, enabling the company to execute their growth strategy.”

Allen & Overy (Luxembourg) acted as CEREIT’s legal advisor in the refinancing, while Clifford Chance (Luxembourg) acted as legal advisor to the banking syndicate. Frank Mausen, partner at Allen & Overy (Luxembourg), added: We are proud that our unrivalled experience and international network enabled us to efficiently assist Cromwell.

At CEREIT’s 3Q 2019 results announcement on 13 November 2019 its CEO, Mr Simon Garing commented: “In line with our responsible capital management strategy, we have successfully refinanced a significant proportion of asset-level secured debt with a high proportion of long-term unsecured debt, substantially improving CEREIT’s financing flexibility while continuing to access the low-cost of debt at circa 1.5%”.

“CEREIT’s debt structure has been transformed, providing us further opportunities to capitalise on accretive growth opportunities,” he added.