Capital & Regional restructures £265m Mall debt

Capital & Regional is to restructure the debt on its four Mall assets and raise £30m in an open offer. The Mall Facility currently comprises a £265m debt facility with RBS and TIAA secured against the Mall Blackburn, Mall Maidstone, Mall Wood Green and Mall Walthamstow. TIAA currently has a balance outstanding of £165m and RBS has a balance outstanding of £100m. Under the terms of the debt restructuring, Capital & Regional will buy the £100m of debt outstanding with RBS for a principal amount of £81m, representing a discount of £19m, or 19%. TIAA has agreed to buy £35m of that debt, increasing its lending secured over the four Mall assets to £200m. The community shopping centre specialist also intends to raise £30m through an open offer of shares at an issue price of 56p. The effect of the debt restructuring and the capital raise will reduce the REIT’s net LTV from 61% to approximately 50%. Chief executive Lawrence Hutchings said: “These proposed transactions, which will recapitalise the balance sheet, represent a significant and positive step forward for the group. They will allow us to once again focus fully on continuing our repositioning and merchandising, while looking at how we can best leverage the expertise in our platform and, in due course, the reintroduction of cash dividends.” Capital & Regional has appointed Panmure Gordon & Co as joint corporate broker. The firm will work alongside Numis Securities, with immediate effect. Discover which agents are transacting the most space in the UK retail market >> To send feedback, e-mail piers.wehner@eg.co.uk or tweet @PiersWehner or @EGPropertyNews Photo © Capital & Regional