Quintain seals £780m refinance of Wembley Park scheme

Quintain has refinanced £780m of corporate facility and infrastructure loans at its Wembley Park scheme with JP Morgan and Cheyne Capital. The refinance replaces a previous facility from Lone Star agreed in 2016, which brought in £800m of fresh debt to build out its Wembley project. Quintain has completed more than 5,000 homes and invested £2.8bn in Wembley Park so far. The masterplan across the 85 acre site will ultimately bring 8,500 homes, of which 6,044 will be BtR. It has approximately 2,500 more homes planned for the area, as well as local shops, cafés and restaurants overlooking the new seven-acre Union Park. Its portfolio continues to grow with two further BTR schemes underway that were financed by JP Morgan in a £277m financing deal last year, the 769-home North East Lands site will be delivered by 2025.  Earlier this year, EG revealed that Greystar acquired a 770-bed, 20-storey student housing development at Wembley Park from Quintain. The acquired site comprises of 770 beds across 20 storeys, along with 7,480 sq ft of internal amenity space and 9,096 sq ft of external facilities. Clare Morgan, head of corporate finance and treasury at Quintain, said: “The new facility consolidates our existing debt exposure and strengthens our balance sheet to ensure a stable platform for ongoing excellence at our Wembley Park site. “The terms of this new facility reflect our attractive portfolio of stabilised, high-quality built-to-rent residential assets, the quality of our remaining development land, as well as record levels of BTR leasing activity over the past 18 months. “Our retail leasing is also going from strength to strength with London Designer Outlet breaking monthly year-on-year trading records for nine consecutive months as we celebrate the tenth anniversary of the outlet centre.” Rahul Sule, head of JP Morgan EMEA and APAC real estate finance, said: “The size and complexity of the transaction could not have been addressed without Quintain’s operational expertise and best-in-class track record in managing the Wembley Park project against an unprecedented market backdrop. “This is one of the largest refinancings executed in the UK so far this year and highlights JP Morgan’s deep expertise in executing large transactions involving multiple parties while providing execution certainty in volatile capital markets.” To send feedback, e-mail akanksha.soni@eg.co.uk or tweet @AkankshaEG or @EGPropertyNews Image © Haworth Tompkins