LaSalle Investment Management, the global real estate investment manager, has announced the launch of the LaSalle Whole Loan Strategies programme by its Debt & Special Situations team. This is a €600 million programme focused on originating whole loans secured against real estate in Western Europe and the Nordics. The programme’s strategy is to originate and hold whole loans with loan-to-values ranging from 70 per cent up to c.80 per cent across various asset types. The strategy targets financings between €25 million and €100 million plus.
This is the latest programme from LaSalle’s market-leading Debt Investments & Special Situations platform. The addition of this product further enhances LaSalle’s ability to provide financing solutions across the capital stack, including whole loans, mezzanine, development financing, and stretched senior loans.
The strategy’s first investment is a €37 million transaction to finance the aggregation of a high-quality portfolio of last mile logistics assets located mostly around Paris, France. The financing provided the sponsor the flexibility to match its business plan to acquire the assets in batches differentiating it from a traditional senior and mezzanine financing solution. Follow-up investments include a €36 million whole loan to finance a fully let distribution centre in Belgium and an office asset in Ireland.
Ali Imraan, Managing Director, Debt & Special Situations, said: “I am delighted to launch the LaSalle Whole Loan Strategies. We have seen an increasing number of borrowers seeking flexible financing solutions for assets by combing senior and mezzanine loans through the efficiency of whole loans. This new programme will allow us to provide borrowers with a truly one-stop financing solution, greatly reducing their execution risk. It is also more efficient compared to a traditional senior and mezzanine solution, particularly for smaller deals.
“While geographically the strategy targets opportunities all across Western Europe, there is an initial focus on France, Benelux, Iberia, and Ireland.”
LaSalle’s Debt Investments & Special Situations team has a strong track record of developing strategic relationships with best-in-class borrowers, and has significant experience across various sectors, geographies, deal sizes, and capital structures. Since 2010, the team has committed €3.2 billion of investments across 66 individual transactions.