Empiric Student Property PLC GBP32.8M debt refinancing with extended 4 year term (7222K)
24 April 2020 - 4:00PM
UK Regulatory
TIDMESP
RNS Number : 7222K
Empiric Student Property PLC
24 April 2020
24 April 2020
Empiric Student Property plc
("Empiric" or the "Company" or, together with its subsidiaries,
the "Group")
REFINANCING OF GBP32.8 MILLION OF DEBT WITH TERM EXTENDED BY
FOUR YEARS
The Board of Empiric Student Property plc (ticker: ESP), the
owner and operator of student accommodation across the UK, is
pleased to announce the successful refinancing of GBP32.8 million
of the Group's existing debt (the "Facility") due to expire in
October 2020. The Facility has been extended by four years to 31
October 2024 with the existing lender AlB Group (UK) plc
("AIB").
The Facility is on more favourable terms with a reduced interest
cost effective from 30 April 2020 of 1.7% per annum above
three-month LIBOR (previously 2.25% above three-month LIBOR) and
remains secured against a portfolio of operating assets, held as a
lending group, through a wholly owned Group subsidiary.
All refinancing for 2020 is now concluded and the next
refinancing is not due until November 2022.
As announced by the Group on 31 March 2020, based on drawn
facilities at 31 December 2019, the Group has significant headroom
against banking covenants calculated on an average basis across the
Group as follows: loan to value ("LTV") covenant 65% compared to
actual LTV of 35%*, and interest cover ratio ("ICR") covenant of
216% compared to actual ICR of 397%. In addition to this, the Group
has GBP134 million of uncharged assets.
The Group currently has GBP14 million of cash and GBP35 million
of undrawn debt facilities available. Since the last update, the
Group has drawn GBP10 million of debt and deferred the balance of
the development pipeline with the corresponding development debt of
GBP12 million also being deferred.
The Group will provide a trading update on Wednesday, 6 May 2020
when it expects to have much greater clarity on the amount of
support that has been requested by its residents regarding their
rent and lease obligations for the final semester of the 2019/20
academic year.
Lynne Fennah, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Empiric
Student Property plc, commented:
"We are delighted to have successfully refinanced this facility
early with existing lender AIB, extending the term by four years on
more favourable financial terms, and we look forward to continuing
to work with AIB. The Group's next refinancing is not due until
November 2022."
Commenting on the Facility, Gerry Jones, Senior Director of AIB
Group (UK) plc said:
" We are pleased to provide Empiric with this term extension to
their debt facility with AIB. The debt facility is secured against
premium student accommodation in a range of key UK university
cities and has been structured to meet Empiric's specific
refinancing requirements."
* Calculated in line with that required by banking covenants,
which excludes cash holdings. If cash holdings are included, which
is in line with the usual reporting calculation, the LTV is 34% at
the date of this release.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY, PLEASE CONTACT:
Empiric Student Property plc (via Maitland/AMO below)
Tim Attlee (Chief Executive Officer)
Lynne Fennah (Chief Financial & Operating
Officer)
Jefferies International Limited Tel: 020 7029 8000
Stuart Klein
Tom Yeadon
RBC Europe Limited (trading as RBC Tel: 020 7653 4000
Capital Markets)
Charlie Foster
Marcus Jackson
M aitland/AMO (Communications Adviser) Tel: 020 7379 5151
James Benjamin Email: empiric-maitland@maitland.co.uk
The Company's LEI is 213800FPF38IBPRFPU87.
Further information on Empiric can be found on the Company's
website at www.empiric.co.uk .
Notes:
Empiric Student Property plc is a leading provider and operator
of modern, direct-let, nominated or leased student accommodation
across the UK. Investing in both operating and development assets,
Empiric is a multi-niche student property company focused on, (i)
providing good quality first year accommodation managed through its
Hello Student(R) operating platform in partnership with
universities, (ii) offering a variety of second and third year
purpose-built accommodation options for individual students and
those wanting a group living environment, and (iii) continuing to
expand the Group's existing premium, studio-led accommodation
portfolio which is attractive to international and postgraduate
students.
The Company, an internally managed real estate investment trust
("REIT") incorporated in England and Wales, listed on the premium
listing segment of the Official List of the Financial Conduct
Authority and was admitted to trading on the main market for listed
securities of the London Stock Exchange in June 2014.
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END
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