JSE REIT Stor-Age, a self-storage property fund, said yesterday that it had finalised a UK debt restructuring process with greater access to credit.
Chief executive Gavin Lucas said: “One of the key drivers in the debt restructuring process has been to improve funding terms to allow for more flexibility in the use of the facility.
“We have also remained focused on ensuring the diversification of funding sourcing, with the current single bank exposure increasing to two clearing banks plus an institutional lender, resulting in reduced concentration risk and dependence.”
Stor-Age’s UK operations, trading under the brand Storage King, had to date been supported by a £52 million (R1 billion) revolving credit facility (RCF) from Lloyds Bank.
The Lloyds RCF was refinanced and replaced by the introduction of a ‘club’ facility. HSBC UK Bank Plc and Santander UK Plc have been selected as the two banks to participate in the club facility, while an institutional lender, Aviva Investors, was also introduced into the wider structure to provide longer-term funding.
This has resulted in increased lending capacity to support future growth, increasing the existing £52m facility to £96m, including a £25m accordion option.
The pricing was better, reducing the existing facility from 2.75 percent above Libor to a blended rate of 2.5 percent above Sonia in the club banking facility and an all-in fixed rate of 3.21 percent in the institutional facility.
As a result of the debt restructure, the new facilities combined will also have a weighted average expiry of 5.5 years, Stor-Age said.
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