Intu Properties agrees new credit facility

Intu Properties has put in place a new corporate £600m revolving credit facility (RCF) to replace the existing £375m facility, which had been due to expire in November 2018.

The new RCF has been provided by seven banks, including all the providers of the current facility.

It has a minimum term of five years to October 2019, with the ability to extend this by a further two years if certain conditions are met.

Chief financial officer Matthew Roberts said: "I am very pleased with this successful refinancing, which increases both the size and tenure of committed facilities for Intu. Despite the increase in the size of the facility, we have been able to reduce margins and fees such that expected on-going costs will be lower than under the previous facility.

"Intu takes relationship banking very seriously and therefore I am also very pleased that we have been able to maintain, and indeed enlarge, our core relationship banks within this, our principal corporate facility."

The margin on the new RCF, which is linked to different gearing levels, has reduced by between 25 and 50 basis points compared to the existing facility and has an initial margin of 140 basis points over LIBOR.

Taking into account the lower margin, and a lower commitment fee which has been agreed, the new facility will have a lower all-in cost based on expected utilisation levels despite the larger facility size, Intu explained.

The new facility will be used to provide the company with general liquidity.