DLA LLP has advised Bradford & Bingley plc on its provision of £216,000,000 debt funding to Metro Shopping Fund LP, the high profile new central London shopping centre fund created by Land Securities and Jamie Ritblat’s Delancey. The fund is structured as a limited partnership and initially comprises four central London shopping centres totalling 420,000 square feet, valued at £270m with over 200 tenancies. There are plans to grow the fund in the future.
Bradford & Bingley plc is an existing client of DLA.
Banking partner, Howard Davison, led the DLA team advising Bradford and Bingley. Banking assistants Kirstie Allerton and Antony Clerehugh, banking trainee Kristianne Purdy and real estate assistants Paul Metcalfe, Charles Jackson and Erica Ridehalgh, assisted him. Partner Mark Burgess provided tax advice.
.
Howard Davison said: “This was a particularly interesting transaction because of the prominent players involved, the structuring of the borrower in order to achieve tax transparency and the need to strike the right balance between the borrower’s need for the flexibility to manage the portfolio and the requirements of the bank. We were delighted to have once again been working with Bradford & Bingley’s Property Finance team for whom we have acted for a number of years in relation to a number of significant real estate finance transactions.”
