A PROPERTY investment fund with industrial sites across Merseyside and the North West has secured £45m from investors to reduce its debt.
Ashtenne Industrial Fund (AIF) is behind the Liverpool Innovation Park, a joint project with the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA).
It also owns industrial properties in Huyton and Speke.
The new equity, issued in the form of convertible loan stock which will convert to units in the fund in September, 2012 , was raised entirely from within its existing investor base.
It has also refinanced £364m of existing debt with lenders Royal Bank of Scotland and the Lloyds Banking Group for a further four years.
The fundraising was carried out by Aviva Investors and Warner Estate, who jointly manage AIF. Warner owns Liverpool’s Cavern Walks and Birkenhead’s Pyramids shopping centre through a separate retail fund. The revised debt facility will allow AIF to continue asset managing its £627m portfolio, comprising 330 industrial properties, let to 3,112 tenants.
Total rental income is around £56m a year. It will also reduce the need for further asset sales until values improve.
The fund is now closer to concluding its disposal programme, having completed some £52.3m of sales in 29 separate transactions during 2009.
John Heawood, managing director of Ashtenne Asset Management, the division of Warner Estate responsible for the asset management of AIF, said: “The combination of the refinancing and the equity raised has given the Ashtenne Industrial Fund a solid base upon which to build, paving the way for a recovery in value through the next few years.
“Our unique structure of regional management teams has been hugely effective at retaining income, minimising void and continuing to make sales during the downturn. This announcement represents a very significant return.”
