Intu Properties plc today announces a £800 million (approx. €926.4 million) debut bond issue for Intu (SGS) Finance plc, the company’s new secured group structure. The issue is divided into two tranches of £450 million (approx. €521 million) 3.875% bonds due 2023 and £350 million (approx. €405 million) 4.625% bonds due 2028, priced at spreads of 210 bps and 205 bps respectively over the relevant reference gilts.
The notes will be rated A(sf) by Standard & Poor’s. Bank of America Merrill Lynch, HSBC and UBS Investment Bank acted as joint book runners. Rothschild provided independent debt advice to Intu.
The bond transaction forms the major part of the overall £1,150 million (approx. €1,331 million) refinancing of intu Lakeside, intu Braehead, intu Watford and intu Victoria Centre announced on 27 February 2013. The remainder of the debt is provided by a five year term loan with the strong demand for the bond transaction removing the need for a bridge facility component. In aggregate and including amortization of fees, the estimated blended cost of borrowing of the new structure is circa 4.4% per annum.
Matthew Roberts, Finance Director of Intu Properties plc., commented “I am pleased to announce the terms of this successful bond transaction, which is the inaugural issue for our new debt funding platform.
I am delighted with the level of demand shown for this ‘A’ rated debt secured on four of Intu’s prime shopping centers. This issue diversifies our sources of funding beyond the banking markets and significantly extends our debt maturity profile. I am confident that the new debt platform will provide flexible and ready access to debt markets on an ongoing basis, enabling issue of a range of instruments at competitive margins.”
Source: Intu
