Moor Park Capital Partners LLP, specialists in corporate finance led real estate transactions, announces that it has agreed to be the exclusive European Service Provider for American Realty Capital's new publicly registered non-traded real estate investment trust ('REIT') called American Realty Capital Global Trust, Inc. ('Global'), which is regulated by the SEC. Global intends to qualify as a REIT for US tax purposes in the year ended December 31, 2012.
Moor Park believes that it is an opportune time to invest in Europe due to a number of factors. These include the widening of yields between primary and secondary real estate without compromising on tenant credit quality, a significant spread between acquisition yields and cost of debt financing, a considerable reduction in the number of real estate investors active in the European market and the increasing requirement from corporates to raise capital through sale-leaseback transactions.
Up to 40% of the equity raised for the new REIT will be invested in Europe. Moor Park will seek to acquire properties in connection with Global's investment objectives. One of the key investment objectives of the new REIT is to build a diversified portfolio comprised of sale-leaseback transactions that are diversified with respect to the credit risk associated with any one tenant, industry or country.
Moor Park will aim to acquire primarily single-tenant commercial properties with long-term (minimum 10 years), triple-net leases across a number of different property sectors and countries within Europe. Initially, the countries that Moor Park will be focusing on will include the UK, Germany and France. In order to achieve this portfolio diversification, the size of each transaction will range from £5 million (approx. 6 million) to £75 million (approx. 89 million).
To generate sufficient and predictable cash flows to support a stable distribution to the U.S. retail investors, it is intended that the overall leverage of Global will comprise of no more than 45% loan-to-value.
The new REIT is not restricted by any asset types, although there is likely to be a strong concentration in retail/retail parks/retail warehouse and industrial/logistics, in each case consistent with its investment guidelines. To a lesser extent, Moor Park will look at other types of assets including leisure, office, student accommodation and hotels that may fit within the REIT's investment guidelines.
The first transaction completed by Global comprised the acquisition of a McDonald's restaurant located in Carlisle, United Kingdom. The McDonald's restaurant contains approximately 9,000 ft² (approx. 840 m²) and is leased to McDonald's Real Estate LLP, a subsidiary of McDonald's Corporation.
Source: Moor Park Capital Partners LLP
