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16 December 1999
Lend Lease Arranges US$252 Million in Financing for Acquisition of Interest in Seven Office Properties
New York, NY - December 16, 1999 – Lend Lease Real Estate Investments announced today that the company's Finance Group has arranged $252 million in financing for Lend Lease U.S. Office, Inc. to acquire an interest in seven office properties. Financing was accomplished through a unique package of five transactions underwritten by National Australia Bank Limited, Americas Structured Finance Group.
Lend Lease previously announced that it entered into joint venture agreements with Equity Office Properties Trust to acquire interests in seven Equity Office properties for $533.9 million. Managed by Lend Lease Real Estate Investments, Lend Lease U.S. Office Trust, the owner of Lend Lease U.S. Office, Inc., is the first listed Australian property trust to specialize in office real estate assets in the United States.
Details of the financing transaction follow:
Two of the transactions totaling $115 million were first mortgage loans, secured by individual properties of which Lend Lease U.S. Office, Inc. has a 75% interest: a 6-year, $65 million mortgage loan secured by Bank One Center in Indianapolis and a five-year, $50 million mortgage loan secured by SunTrust Center in Orlando.
The remaining $137 million was achieved at the portfolio level through three transactions secured by Lend Lease U.S. Office, Inc.'s. equity interest in the properties. They included a five-year, $55 million loan with a $15 million revolving credit sublimit; a 15-month, $67 million bridge loan; and a two-year, $15 million renewable working capital facility.
"We were able to achieve very aggressive pricing on all these financing transactions, especially at the entity-level," said Herb Miller, principal with Lend Lease Real Estate Investments and head of the company's Finance Group. "It is typical for a newly formed company, such as Lend Lease US Office, Inc., to have difficulty finding reasonable entity-level financing options. Given Lend Lease's global presence, we were able to structure a much more attractive transaction with a foreign institution than could be achieved in the domestic market."
Lend Lease Real Estate Investments ranks as one of the leading U.S. managers of tax exempt assets invested in real estate, and has $30.6 billion in its U.S. real estate and mortgage portfolios. The company operates from more than 30 offices on five continents: North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It is a subsidiary of Lend Lease Corporation, an international real estate and financial services group listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (LLC). Worldwide, the Lend Lease Group has $38.2 billion in real estate assets under management. In addition to real estate investments, the Lend Lease Group operates in the areas of property development, project management and construction, and financial services. Financial services activities for the Group include funds management, life insurance, and wealth protection. Lend Lease Corporation has total funds under management and administration of $56.3 billion and a market capitalization of $6 billion. For more company information visit our website at www.lendleaserei.com.media
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