Westdeutsche ImmobilienBank AG expanded its product range to provide junior loans within the zone of historical senior debt metrics, typically at or around 75% LTV. It is not seeking to play in the mezzanine/preferred equity space. Most Western European countries will be considered and typical junior loan sizes will be in the order of 10-20 mln with larger deals seeing the involvement of strategic partners.
"The ability to provide junior loans will strategically enhance WestImmo's senior debt origination platform. FreshStart will enable us to provide enhanced leverage on a selective basis for our customers as an additional and attractive financial product," said Claus-Jürgen Cohausz, Member of the Managing Board of WestImmo.
FreshStart will be led by Peter Denton, Managing Director of WestImmo's London Branch, who gained significant experience in the junior debt origination and structuring market. Since the formation of the market in the early 1990s he undertook over 3 billion of subordinated and high yield debt transactions.
Denton said, "Surprisingly the demand for enhanced leverage has been rarefied until very recently. WestImmo is now starting to see many more appropriate opportunities to deploy junior capital along side its traditional senior lending base and thus further support its client base."
WestImmo intends to build up an initial portfolio of loans under the FreshStart programme that it would aim to seed into a third party fund which it would manage. WestImmo's recent financing of Meyer Bergman's purchase of a 50% interest in the Bentall Centre in Kingston incorporates its first loan position under the FreshStart program.
Source: WestImmo
