LONDON: British Land , the second-largest UK real estate investment trust (REIT), closed a $480 million US private placement bond issue, taking the total funds it has raised since May to $860 million, it said on Thursday.
It is the largest US private placement by a UK REIT, involving 12 investors and a range of maturities between 7 and 15 years.
UK property companies are looking to alternative sources of funding to capitalise on the fall in the value of real estate outside so-called prime locations since the credit crisis and on a shortage of high-quality offices in central London.
"For any of the UK REITS, diversifying their source of funding is a positive," said Mike Bessell, a property analyst at Evolution Securities.
"Traditional large lenders to the sector in the UK such as RBS and Lloyds are reducing their exposure."
Other property companies to announce bond issues this year are Great Portland Estates and Derwent London .
The oversubscribed placement, originally launched at $200 million, takes the company's weighted average debt maturity and interest rate, including share of joint ventures and fund debt, to 9.7 years and 4.8 percent respectively, British Land said.
RBS and HSBC acted as joint agents and hedge co-ordinators, and Lloyds provided hedge underwriting and syndication.
Copyright Reuters, 2011
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