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Brookfield Asset Management is to begin providing debt for London real estate, according to a report in Real Estate Capital.
The world’s second-largest real estate investor is looking to expand its activities in the U.K. capital and sees debt as an attractive way of investing in London during the late stage of the real estate cycle.
The firm will allocate up to 20% of its latest debt fund, the $3B Brookfield Real Estate Finance V, outside of North America, with London and the U.K. at the top of its list.
It will look to make whole loans of around £100M at loan-to-value ratios of up to 80% and syndicate some of the debt, Real Estate Capital said.
“The exodus from the U.K. market of many of the traditional lenders provide a very good opportunity for us,” Brookfield managing partner Andrea Balkan said. “Historically, Brookfield has taken a little bit of a contrarian view.”
He said Brookfield is working on its first London deal.
Brookfield has been a major investor in London since the credit crunch, including the £2.8B takeover of Canary Wharf Group undertaken in a joint venture with the Qatar Investment Authority. It is also a big developer, with schemes including the 1M SF 100 Bishopsgate in the City of London.
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