Brookfield Strikes $2B Refinancing For Office Companies It Took Private

Brookfield has refinanced debt secured against two European office companies it took private in a $6.7B (£5.3B, €6.1B) spree in 2022.

The company has refinanced bridge loans used to buy Belgian office company Befimmo for $1.5B and a portion of the debt used to buy Irish REIT Hibernia for $1.2B. 

This is one of the largest office financing deals in Europe this year, as both lenders and borrowers try and work out the value of office assets in a new world of hybrid work and increasing sustainability expectations. 

Brookfield is one of the world’s largest office owners and, as such, has one of the world’s largest real estate debt piles. The company had $5.6B of debt maturing this year and has $20.4B maturing next year, according to a quarterly report for Brookfield Property Partners. These new debt facilities knock off a portion of that. The company has an in-house capital markets team that works on managing its debt.

Befimmo is a Belgian real estate operating and development company comprising 40 offices and mixed-use spaces in Belgium and Luxembourg.

The refinancing of the company consisted of a $1B syndicated bank loan with European banks, a $315M development loan with a bank to fund development, a $241M CMBS loan and a $51M mezzanine facility. This was the first European office CMBS loan since 2021.

Hibernia is an Irish real estate developer and owner of office properties across Dublin’s central business district. Brookfield used a $970M debt facility from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Société Générale when it bought Hibernia, and it has put a new $450M loan in place secured against part of the company’s portfolio.