Liverpool One deal signed

The Grosvenor Liverpool Fund has secured £385m refinancing for its 1.6m sq ft Liverpool One mixed-use scheme. The five-year deal replaces the original funding put in place six years ago to cover both the development phase and the initial period of trading.

Grosvenor signed the refinancing agreement with the Royal Bank of Scotland, Eurohypo, Dekabank and Credit Agricole. The facility was the culmination of a competitive tendering process which had been put in place ahead of the existing loan maturing in January 2012.

Chris Taite, fund manager, said: “We have been in discussion with the banks since early last year to secure this refinancing – never an easy task for this size of loan, even in a strong market.” He said Liverpool One’s quality and demonstrable success convinced the new lenders.

Grosvenor said Liverpool One had performed exceptionally well since opening two years ago, despite the challenging economic climate. It is currently 98 percent let, 51 percent of tenants are new to Liverpool and 20 new retailers have opened in the past 12 months, including Hugo Boss, Desigual, Habitat, Hollister, Jamie’s Italian and Kuoni. It said Liverpool One had consistently outperformed the IPD Index of large UK shopping centres.