New Debt Facility

RNS Number : 9654G

UK Commercial Property Trust Ltd

20 May 2011

 



UK COMMERCIAL PROPERTY TRUST LIMITED

("UKCPT" or the "Company")

20 MAY 2011

NEW £150 MILLION DEBT FACILITY FOR NEXT STAGE IN UKCPT'S GROWTH

UK Commercial Property Trust, the largest UK focused commercial property trust, managed by Ignis, announces that it has entered into a new £150 million, seven year term loan facility with Barclays Bank plc (the "Facility").  The new facility follows the Company's announcements of 4 and 28 April 2011 and is in line with its strategy of increasing UKCPT's financial capability, allowing it to act quickly and strategically with regard to acquisitions and portfolio asset management.

Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, the Facility shall remain available to be drawn down for a period of 18 months and shall be repayable on 19 May 2018. The Facility includes terms which are typical for a facility of this nature, including a 60% loan-to-value and an interest cover limit of 1.6 times.  The interest rate margin payable under the Facility is 1.85% above LIBOR, which could be reduced to a minimum margin of 1.60%, on the basis of a loan-to-value ratio of less than 25%, and increased to a maximum margin of 2.00% on the basis of a loan-to-value ratio above 45%.

The Facility is secured only over the assets of UK Commercial Property Estates Holdings Limited and UK Commercial Property Estates Limited, both subsidiaries of UKCPT.

It is expected that the loan to value in respect of the Facility will be just below 45% once the amounts under this facility are fully drawn. It does, however, remain the Board's intention that the borrowings of the overall group at the time of draw down will not exceed 25% of the total assets of the overall group. In the event that the full amount of the Facility is drawn down, the total borrowings of the overall group would amount to approximately 22% of the total assets of the overall group, still lower than the average gearing within the Company's peer group.

£15 million of the Barclays Facility has been drawn down in order to partially fund the acquisition announced today by the Company of The Rotunda Leisure Scheme.

Christopher Hill, UKCPT's chairman, commented:  "Having recently received shareholder approval at EGM to increase the Company's gearing to 25%, we have quickly taken steps to move this process on to the next logical step.  As a result we now have a further £150 million at our disposal, which will be invaluable to the ongoing management of our portfolio, particularly in providing us with the flexibility to pursue acquisitions and other opportunities quickly and efficiently."

For further information:

Robert Boag/Graeme McDonald/Gary Hutcheson, Ignis Investment Services Limited

Tel: [phone]

Richard Sunderland/Will Henderson/ Stephanie Highett, Financial Dynamics

Tel: [phone]

The Company Secretary, Northern Trust International Fund Administration Services (Guernsey) Limited

Tel: [phone]

 

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