Regeneration company Urban Splash has announced a £43.5m refinancing deal with the global asset management business of Aviva plc.
The Manchester-headquartered firm has agreed the eight-year debt facility deal on its commercial portfolio with Aviva Investors.
A part of the arrangement, the investor has committed to funding an 800,000 sq ft workspace portfolio primarily focused on Liverpool and Manchester.
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It also includes a requirement from Urban Splash to work towards ESG improvements of the assets as part of Aviva Investors’ Sustainable Transition Loans framework.
The deal comes shortly after the scale of the financial woes that faced a modular housing joint venture between Urban Splash and a Japan-based giant as it collapsed into administration was revealed for the first time.
Urban Splash Housing Holdings was a joint venture between the Manchester-headquartered property company, Sekisui House UK - a subsidiary of the Japan-based Sekisui - and Homes England which owned 4% of shares.
The joint venture entered administration in May with 160 people made redundant.
Its modular homes have been used on sites such as Wirral Waters and New Islington in Manchester.
Urban Splash director Nathan Cornish said: "We are absolutely delighted to complete this long-term deal with a funder of the stature of Aviva Investors. It is a great endorsement of the value of the Urban Splash brand, our commercial assets, our people – and the customers operating out of our buildings."
The transaction refinances and consolidates separate portfolios which were previously funded by IGC Longbow, Rothschild and the Pears family.
Major assets within the 25-asset Urban Splash portfolio include Beehive Mill, Waulk Mill and Stubbs Mill in Manchester, and a number of buildings in Liverpool including Vanilla Factory and Tea Factory in the centre of the city, and the Matchworks in South Liverpool.
Gregor Bamert, head of real estate debt at Aviva Investors, said: "We are very pleased to have started a lending relationship with Urban Splash and look forward to developing it further over time.
"The diverse property assets are well-designed, well-located and of high quality. Urban Splash manages an impressive range of commercial communities and we are proud to support them as they continue to reduce the carbon footprint of the portfolio."
Mr Cornish added: "We are proud of our commercial portfolio and have carefully nurtured our workspaces in recent years, investing in new ideas that will accommodate changing occupier appetites and a new approach to work.
"It is an area of Urban Splash that has perhaps not occupied the spotlight as much as our residential or regeneration projects, but it is a consistent part of our business which has always underpinned what we do. I am proud to have reached another milestone today and the support of a major financial institution."
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