Aviva Investors Real Estate Finance (Aviva Investors) has provided family owned property company Bruntwood with a secure loan of £115.5 million, in what is a bold move that will support its plans for significant growth across the UK in the near future.
The growth that is planned for Bruntwood includes the development of Circle Square in Manchester and this funding will now kick start the opening phase of this project, with the money also set to be used to partially refinance the company’s £300 million medium term loan facility with numerous banks that is set to expire in two years’ time.
“This deal is part of our long-term approach to sustainable growth and further testament to the strength of our customer focused business model” commented Christ Oglesby, the chief executive at Bruntwood. “In the last four years, not only have we significantly reduced debt gearing and risk in the group, but we’ve also grown our asset base and secured a £1.5 billion GDV development pipeline.
“This new facility allows us to respond to the strong customer demand that we are experiencing by bringing forward another significant portion of that pipeline. It also affords a level of flexibility that will allow us to remain nimble in the way in which we both accommodate our customers’ requirements and approach further acquisitions in this ever changing, uncertain world.”
The loan has played perfectly into the hands of both Bruntwood and Aviva, with Aviva Investors’ head of real estate finance, Gregor Bamert, expressing his personal delight following the completion of the deal.
Bamert was particularly pleased with the short amount of time it took for both parties to come to an agreement, and he has aspired to build a relationship with Bruntwood for a long time, so this loan deal has proved to be very beneficial to both companies.
