In its most successful year since its launch in 2006, CBRE's Debt Advisory team, part of the Group's Real Estate Finance division, completed nearly 1 billion of loan originations in 2010.
During the year, the team advised borrowers on over 985 million (£831 million) of loan originations across 16 loans, averaging 62 million (£52 million) per transaction. Of the total finance raised by the team, 93% was for office, industrial and retail assets. The significant increase in volumes was driven by improved UK based market activity, with over 50% of the team's business generated there, albeit these mandates were generally cross-border in nature.
Commenting, Natale Giostra, Head of UK & EMEA Debt Advisory, said: "Our clients are increasingly seeking advice as loan origination, including refinancing, has become more complex due to the emergence of a number of new types of lenders and structures, the withdrawal of a number of dominant traditional lenders and the pressure of the significant pool of loan maturities that are due in the near future. Now a smaller amount of financing is available from a more disparate group of lenders and to successfully finance properties, borrowers must present carefully thought through business cases that will pass ever stricter due diligence processes and lift them above the competition.
"We have continued this strong performance by winning a number of mandates already in 2011 and we are currently engaged to originate over 235 million of loans in the UK, Germany, Netherlands, France and Spain."
The largest transaction the team advised on in 2010 was the financing of Moor Park Capital's acquisition of Banc Sabadell's Spanish real estate portfolio, which included 378 bank branches, valued at over 400 million.
Natale Giostra added, "During the year, we saw a strong appetite from banks to provide acquisition finance. However, capital for refinancing is available mostly to prime and good secondary properties and development finance is still extremely difficult to raise."
Debt Advisory is the loan origination and arranging business of CBRE and sits within the Real Estate Finance division. It advises clients including developers, commercial property owners and investment funds on financing options, including: acquisition financing, refinancing, development financing, mezzanine debt, loan sales, loan buybacks and bridge loans. The team is based in London with local teams in Paris, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid, Moscow, Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow.
Source: FD
