A GROUP of investors led by billionaire Richard Caring has finalised a £330 million (€380 million) deal to repay the National Asset Management Agency and take over an upmarket development site originally financed by Irish Nationwide in Mayfair, London.
The investors refinanced Nama’s loan using debt from Lloyds Banking Group Deutsche Bank and United Overseas Bank in Singapore on a three-year £230 million loan, Bloomberg said.
LaSalle Investment Management and Geneva investment house Safanad gave a mezzanine loan of £100 million, allowing the investors to acquire the property.
Mr Caring purchased the site, the former US navy headquarters at 20 Grosvenor Square, in 2007 using almost 100 per cent finance from Michael Fingleton-run Irish Nationwide. The building society’s deal included an agreement to share in the future profits from the development of the upmarket site, which was US president Dwight Eisenhower’s military headquarters during the second World War.
Citing CoStar, the property company which tracks major transactions, Bloomberg said that the investors planned to develop the property into luxury apartments.
Mr Caring made his fortune in fashion, restaurants and property. It was reported earlier this year that Nama stood to earn a profit of £150 million from the refinancing.
However, the State will enjoy little net benefit on the transaction as the loan was reportedly transferred to Nama from Irish Nationwide at a discount of at least 50 per cent, leaving the nationalised building society with a heavy loss.
A Nama spokesman had no comment on the transaction but said that it negotiates refinancing deals through brokers to secure the best independent market value.
Nama is approving UK property sales and loan refinancing as it seeks to reduce its debts by 25 per cent, or €7.5 billion, by 2013.
