Green completes Eur710m refinancing

Green Property has completed a €710 million refinancing of its property portfolio.

The loan will allow the company pay off almost all the money borrowed to finance the management buyout (MBO) of the group in August 2002.

Managing director Mr Stephen Vernon said the refinancing would allow the company position itself for the future.

"We had a five-year plan to pay off the €1.8 billion of debt acquired as part of the €2.02 billion MBO and we have done it in 18 months," he said. "As a company, we can now move on and begin to plan for the future."

Green has a large portfolio of retail, industrial and office property in the Republic, including the Blanchardstown Centre, where it is currently building an 110,000 sq ft extension that will be anchored by UK retailer Marks & Spencer.

Since giving up its stock exchange listing, the company has raised €1.4 billion by offloading all its UK assets along with some Irish property.

Mr Vernon said that, while Green was an avowedly Irish company with a current focus on Ireland, it would not hesitate to re-enter the British market if the right opportunities arose.

The €710 million loan facility on what is a €900 million to €1 billion portfolio has been arranged and underwritten by Bank of Ireland, Bank of Scotland and Barclays. It will be syndicated in Europe's debt markets.

Mr Vernon said the refinancing "puts the group on a very strong financial footing".

Bank of Ireland's head of corporate banking, Mr Gerry Burke, said the deal was the largest Irish syndicated property financing. "It provides a strong platform for the company's continued growth and development," he said.

Bank of Scotland, which with Merrill Lynch was involved in the MBO, said it was backing "a proven management team and integral player in the Irish property market".

"Stephen Vernon has exciting growth aspirations for the business and... we look forward to continuing to work with his team," Mr Stephen Brown, associate director of joint ventures at the bank, said.

Mr Vernon took Green private at the second attempt in 2002, seeing off rivalry from Treasury Holdings and Deutsche Bank.