Orchard Street completes two purchases with funding from RBS

Orchard Street Special Situations Fund completes two retail property purchases with funding from The Royal Bank of Scotland Orchard Street UK Special Situations Fund, managed by Orchard Street Investment Management LLP, has used a term facility with The Royal Bank of Scotland to finance the acquisition of the Royals Shopping Centre in Southend, and the Meadows Retail Park in Chelmsford.

The RBS facility was set up for the Fund in November last year, with the intention that it is used to finance most of its property acquisitions over the next year or so. The recent purchases, in a total of £44.4m, are the first the Fund has made in a programme of investment that is planned to be completed within the next two years, and amount to c£300m in total.

The purchases are each multi-let, freehold, retail properties, and each offers a variety of asset management opportunities. They are also typical of the property types that the Fund aims to acquire, and manage over its 7 year life.

JC Rathbone, and Olswang acted for Orchard Street in the creation of the facility.

Linklaters acted for RBS.

Chris Bartram, Chairman of Orchard Street, said:

“We have had a long relationship with RBS, and are delighted to have been able to work with them on our new Fund.”

Suzanne Avery, Managing Director Real Estate Finance Group at RBS said:

“The debt facility will provide Orchard Street with the necessary capital to proceed with their acquisition strategy. As a bank we are delighted to support such a good quality management team as Orchard.”