Sirius, the real estate company established to acquire large mixed-use commercial sites for upgrading to flexible workspaces in Germany, is pleased to announce that it has secured a new 45 million credit facility with Landesbank Berlin, the owner of BerlinHyp, secured against properties valued at 85 million.
This, together with existing cash reserves, will mean the Company has approximately 70 million to fund its ongoing programme of upgrading and developing the portfolio as planned in order to drive rental growth and attract new tenants.
Once the new facility is fully drawn down over the next 12 months, borrowings will be 322 million which represents an overall loan to value ("LTV") ratio of 62% based on the latest published valuation. BerlinHyp has agreed to combine the new credit facility with its two existing facilities with Sirius, creating additional LTV headroom for the new enlarged facility and in addition the Company has 55 million of uncharged assets.
Despite the wider economic challenges, demand for Sirius's affordable, good quality, flexible workspace remains strong, with a record number of enquiries recorded in January 2009. 26,798 m² of new leases were signed between 1 October 2008 and 13 February 2009 at an average rate of 5.23 per m², representing a significant uplift on the 10,772 m² of space vacated in the same period, which was let out at 3.50 per m². Occupancy is now at 77%, in line with management expectations. Sirius is continuing to invest in its asset management team in order to manage the opportunities and growth across the portfolio and currently employs 127 people.
Kevin Oppenheim, Chief Executive Officer of the Asset Manager said: "We are pleased to have secured the new facility with BerlinHyp which places us in a stronger financial position, allowing us to achieve our medium term commercial objectives. We believe our product is showing the advantages of being highly flexible and this, together with its affordability, is continuing to attract significant interest from the SME market in Germany."
Source: Cardew Group
