Great Portland Estates secures new credit facility

Great Portland Estate, the FTSE 250 property company, has entered into a new £150m five year unsecured revolving credit facility, replacing an existing £50m facility which was due to mature in July.

The new facility has a headline margin of 175 basis points over Libor (the average rate of interest London banks charge) and was provided by a group of four relationship banks.

In addition to this new facility, GPE retains its existing £350m unsecured revolving credit facility which matures in November 2015.

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Meanwhile, the Great Capital Partnership (GCP), a 50/50 joint venture between Great Portland Estates and Capco, has exchanged contracts to sell five West End properties to Great Portland for a combined price of £150m, or £75m for the half share the firm does not already own.

In a statement, Chief Executive Toby Courtauld said: "Whilst perhaps non-core to GCP, these are classic Great Portland assets so it makes good sense to buy in the half we don't already own. The acquisition both enables the refurbishment of Walmar House and 13/14 Great Castle Street in the near term and provides medium term repositioning opportunities in both Soho and Regent Street with a solid income return in the meantime."

The firm now currently has undrawn committed facilities and cash of more than £200m.

The share price rose 0.37% to 355.40p by 08:31.

NR