London,
18
September
2018
|
10:46
Europe/London

AUSTRALIANSUPER AND TH REAL ESTATE JOINTLY FINANCE ONE CROWN PLACE WITH £280M DEVELOPMENT FACILITY

AustralianSuper, the AUD 140bn Australian pension fund, has teamed up with their long-standing advisor, TH Real Estate, to jointly finance One Crown Place in London’s EC2 with a £280m development facility.

AustralianSuper has committed £230m and TH Real Estate’s recently launched Global Real Estate Debt Partners - Fund II (UK) (GREDP Fund II) is participating with a £50m commitment.The mixed-use scheme, developed by Malaysian conglomerate MTD Group, totals 370,500 sq ft and is comprised of 136,000 sq ft of office space, 7,000 sq ft of retail, a 41-bed boutique hotel and 246 luxury residential units. CBRE is acting as Development Manager on behalf of MTD Group.

 

Henry Robinson, Senior Director, CBRE Development
We are delighted to be working in partnership with AustralianSuper and TH Real Estate for the financing of our flagship development at One Crown Place. The transaction was executed efficiently and knowledgeably by the lenders from start to finish and having the CBRE debt team advise on the funding terms provided us with the necessary flexibility for the requirements of our client.
Henry Robinson, Senior Director, CBRE Development

MTD Group is an infrastructure-based group, established in 1993 and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Its principal business activities range from civil engineering & construction to real estate & property development. MTD Group entered the UK development market in 2013 with the acquisition of their strategic landmark property, One Crown Place.

CBRE Capital Advisors debt and structured finance team, led by Steve Williamson, arranged and structured the transaction for MTD Group.

Mr Tee, Kim Siew, CEO of MTD Group say: “We are very pleased with the outcome of this transaction and the efficient and successful collaboration between multiple stakeholders across the globe. This is a great milestone for us and we are extremely proud of our team that delivered this result to build relationships with our new partners TH Real Estate and AustralianSuper.”

The loan marks AustralianSuper’s first commercial real estate (CRE) debt investment in the UK and follows the launch of a recently agreed mandate with TH Real Estate to expand their investment strategy into UK and European CRE debt. The CRE debt mandate is in addition to the direct European office and retail sector equity mandate agreed between the two parties at the beginning of 2018.

Jason Peasley, Head of Mid Risk at AustralianSuper, adds:The One Crown Place transaction strongly aligns with our real estate debt strategy to target high quality opportunities secured against institutional assets in top-tier locations in European cities. Expanding our relationship with TH Real Estate – which has an impressive track record in the European debt sector – allows us to partner with a market leading global manager to access high quality real estate opportunities.”

AustralianSuper’s CRE debt mandate is targeting debt financing opportunities in London and other major European cities with a focus on both mezzanine and development/refurbishment opportunities for investments in excess of £100m.

Shawn Kaufman, Director at TH Real Estate, comments:We are pleased to be at the forefront of the market in providing CBRE and their client with a single financing solution for the One Crown Place development and believe this transaction demonstrates the combined strength of TH Real Estate and AustralianSuper. As part of the now formalised debt mandate, together we are able to implement an investment strategy that is both meaningful and relevant to borrowers in the current environment.

AustralianSuper is Australia’s largest pension fund and currently manages more than AUD 2.4bn in the direct credit portfolio together with over AUD 10bn in the property equity portfolio. TH Real Estate has US$3.3bn of CRE debt-related AUM in Europe. In 2014, it successfully launched the £300m Global Real Estate Debt Partners - Fund I (UK) strategy, which was followed-up by the £500m GREDP Fund II with a number of separate accounts managed on behalf of various other third-party investors.