Fiera Provides £115M Office Loan: The London Deal Sheet

The Deal Sheet is a weekly compilation of Greater London and beyond's biggest leases, sales, financing deals, construction updates and personnel moves. Have news you’d like to submit? Email mark.faithfull@bisnow.com. 

Fiera Real Estate Debt Strategies has provided a three-year, £115M senior debt facility to Lincoln MGT, a joint venture between Lincoln Property Company and MGT Investment Management, to refinance Grade A office development One Station Hill in Reading.

The facility refinances a development loan from BGO and provides additional capital to support the final phase of leasing at the scheme. Eastdil advised Lincoln MGT on the financing.

Completed in April 2025, the 15-storey, 280K SF building is now more than 70% let. Recent transactions have achieved rents above £55 per SF, and the scheme includes 9,500 SF of fully let retail space.

One Station Hill forms part of the 6.5-acre regeneration of the Station Hill Estate, located opposite Reading station and the Elizabeth line. The first phase of the development includes the 598-unit build-to-rent scheme Ebb & Flow, recently acquired by Pension Insurance Corporation for more than £200M.

DEALS

Sixth Street has invested in Park Properties Housing Association in partnership with HSPG, a social and affordable housing investor. Sixth Street will provide the majority of the equity capital, with HSPG continuing to lead the strategy, asset management and growth of PPHA's platform.

PPHA intends to invest more than £1B to deliver new-build homes, including affordable rent, social rent, shared ownership and grant-led additionality.

PPHA is one of the UK's largest for-profit registered providers, with a contracted pipeline of circa 1,100 homes and a further 4,000-plus new homes identified for addition to its growing portfolio. 

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Asset manager Eatos Group Real Estate has bought Finsbury House at 23 Finsbury Circus from the City Bridge Foundation charity. Eatos bought the building on a 155-year lease.

The 40K SF property, which is vacant and has been stripped back to shell and core, has full planning consent for refurbishment, including the addition of a new roof terrace, providing an opportunity to deliver around 27K SF of office space.

Ahead of works commencing, Eatos Group has secured a pre-let to a flex office operator that will take occupation in early 2027 following completion of the refurbishment.

FINANCE

MERA Investment Management has launched a new dedicated joint ventures department, backed by a U.S. credit fund. The lender plans to deploy £100M into real estate development and investment equity opportunities in the UK.

The new department will target commercial and residential developments, and MERA said it will partner with experienced developers and firms to provide equity investments of £5M to £15M, generally targeting projects with a two-to-three-year time horizon and a spread of liquidity and exit strategies.

MERA has already financed two joint venture projects, recently signing its largest deal to date by partnering with Winslade Park to support the £100M gross development value mixed-use scheme in Exeter.

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NewRiver has agreed a new unsecured £240M facility comprising a £120M term facility commitment and a £120M revolving credit facility. The new facility will allow the company to return to a fully unsecured debt structure once the term facility commitment is drawn.

All four existing lenders have increased their commitments, and a secured £140M mall facility was retained following the acquisition of Capital & Regional in December 2024, principally due to its 3.5% coupon, which runs until January 2027, the company added.

DEVELOPMENT

The City of London Corporation has announced a partnership with developer General Projects and Sir Lloyd Dorfman’s Esselco Group to redevelop The Annexe buildings in West Smithfield.

Located near Farringdon and the new London Museum, the development of this set of Victorian-era market, storage and engine structures, built between 1886 and 1899, is part of a wider regeneration.

Designed by Heatherwick Studio, the scheme will be completed in two phases. Phase 1 will launch in early 2028 and will include a new food market, while Phase 2 is set to complete by 2030 and will include a boutique hotel, new ground-floor retail, food and beverage, and a pocket park.

LEASING

Wild Bioscience, a University of Oxford spinout focused on climate-resilient crops, has expanded its footprint at Milton Park to 16K SF following a £45M Series A investment led by the Ellison Institute of Technology, with backing from Oxford Science Enterprises, Braavos and the University of Oxford.

Wild Bioscience has signed a new lease and moved into additional laboratory and office space, to increase its footprint by 4,600 SF across 115K Olympic Avenue and additional buildings, including a newly fitted office and CL2 gene-editing laboratory at 127 Olympic Avenue.

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The Portman Estate has signed two new F&B tenants from the Pachamama Group. Launching at 96 George Street and 8 Loxton Walk, both restaurants will form part of Loxton Walk, a new retail, wellness and dining area for Marylebone developed in a collaboration between The Portman Estate and Derwent London.

At 96 George Street, the group will introduce a 6K SF all-day dining venue, its largest restaurant venture in London, called Soraya. At 8 Loxton Walk, the group will open street food dining with a 1,200 SF offer.

PEOPLE

Newmark has appointed Josh Braid as a director in its UK retail team. In the role, Braid will drive leasing strategies for landlords and advise on the repositioning and strategic activation of retail and leisure schemes across London and EMEA.

Braid brings more than 15 years’ experience advising landlords, tenants and investors across London and Europe, and he led the leasing strategies for projects including The Old War Office and Knightsbridge Gate, plus Oxford Street lettings.

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Nikki Dibley, senior development executive at Helical, has been appointed the new chair of the City Property Association.

Dibley will work with the newly appointed vice chair, Simon Swietochowski, development director at BNP Paribas Asset Management Alt, who will also serve a two-year term guiding CPA’s role in representing the property industry in the City.