One of Liverpool’s biggest commercial property owners, Bruntwood, has secured a new £120m debt facility with Legal & General.

The 10-year facility is at a fixed rate of 4.64% for its duration.

Bruntwood is a North West family firm and owns a number office buildings in Liverpool including The Plaza, which was the former Littlewoods headquarters, and the Cotton Exchange complex.

Across the UK it owns more than 100 office buildings.

The debt facility is secured against seven buildings within Bruntwood’s portfolio, comprising six office buildings in Manchester and one in Birmingham.

They include City Tower, the 28-storey Manchester city centre office building which is also the firm’s headquarters.

The loan will be used to partially refinance Bruntwood’s seven-year commercial mortgage backed securitisation (CMBS) which is due to expire in January 2014.

Traditionally financed via more medium-term bank facilities, this is Bruntwood’s first significant institutional facility of a 10 year duration.

The loan has also reduced the group’s funding costs by nearly 0.5% from that which is paid on the CMBS.

Chris Oglesby, chief executive of Bruntwood, said:  “Securing this new, long-term facility with a lender like Legal & General is testament to the strength of our successful business model and allows us to part refinance our CMBS as well as to position ourselves for future growth.

“We believe that our growth will continue to come from careful stock selection and incredibly hands-on asset management.”