Barts Square Secures £165M Development Facility

RNS Number : 8398B

Helical Bar PLC

12 January 2015

 



12 January 2015

Helical Bar plc ("Helical" or "Helical Bar" or "Group")

HELICAL BAR'S BARTS SQUARE SCHEME SECURES £165M DEVELOPMENT FACILITY WITH HSBC

Helical Bar today announces that its Barts Square scheme, held in joint venture with The Baupost Group LLC, has secured a new £165m revolving credit facility from HSBC, refinancing £35m of existing debt, also from HSBC, due to be repaid in March 2015.

The new facility refinances the investment assets, currently let on short term leases to the NHS, and provides funding for the construction of Phase 1 of the scheme which incorporates 144 residential units, 24,000 sq ft of office accommodation, retail/restaurant space and accompanying public realm improvements.

The terms of the facility, repayable in December 2019, allow drawdowns of 100% of construction costs and benefit from a current all-inclusive interest rate of circa 3.5%.

Tim Murphy, Finance Director at Helical Bar plc, commented:

"Helical has a longstanding relationship with the team at HSBC and we are pleased to extend this relationship with the agreement of this new five year development facility."

Oliver Rippier, Development Executive at Helical Bar plc, commented:

"This new facility has enabled the joint venture to start on site and with 50 apartments already sold out of the 88 apartments initially released in Phase 1, we are confident the scheme will be a great success."

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For further information, please contact:

Helical Bar plc Tim Murphy / Oliver Rippier	020 7629 0113
FTI Consulting Dido Laurimore / Clare Glynn	020 3727 1000

Note for editors:

Barts Square, London EC1

In joint venture with The Baupost Group LLC ("Baupost 66.7%"), Helical Bar plc ("Helical 33.3%") owns the freehold interest in land and buildings at Bartholomew Close, Little Britain and Montague Street, a 3.2 acre site adjacent to the new Barts Hospital and just south of Smithfield Market. The current buildings comprise 420,000 sq ft, let to the NHS on a number of short term leases that expire between 2014 and 2016 (the joint venture has obtained vacant possession on all buildings which will comprise Phase 1 of the development).

Planning consent has been obtained for a comprehensive redevelopment of 19 buildings to provide a total of 215 residential apartments, two office buildings of 202,000 sq ft and 23,500 sq ft, 21,800 sq ft of retail/restaurant use at ground floor as well as major public realm improvements. Phase 1 commenced on 5 January 2015.

 

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