Derwent London ("Derwent London plc"/ "the Group") announces today that it has signed a new £550m unsecured five year revolving credit facility.
The new facility is being provided by the Group's principal relationship banks, HSBC, RBS, Barclays and Lloyds, with HSBC as agent. It replaces £650m of secured bank facilities expiring between April 2014 and January 2017, as was indicated in the Group's interim results announced in August and follows on from the Group's issue in July of £150m of convertible bonds due in July 2019.
The margin payable under the new facility is 160 basis points over LIBOR for net asset gearing levels of up to 50%. The margin increases at higher levels of gearing with a maximum permitted level of 160%. The current level of Group net asset gearing is 40.4% based on June 2013 property values.
Damian Wisniewski, Finance Director of Derwent London, commented:
"Our new unsecured bank facility brings greater operational flexibility in relation to individual properties and the release of security on the facilities repaid provides the Group with a pool of unencumbered assets of over £1.8bn. We are pleased to have put these new arrangements in place at competitive pricing."