Duo secure £29m loan for acquisition of two UK sites

OakNorth Bank has provided a debt finance facility to support ALMCOR and Cerberus Capital Management’s affiliate in acquiring two sites in Leicestershire and Lancashire.

The £29m loan will facilitate the purchase of the 90-acre Melton Commercial Park in Melton Mowbray and the 50-acre Leyland Business Park in Preston.

These acquisitions are part of the joint venture’s European Industrial Outdoor Storage (EIOS) platform, which was launched in 2022 with €500m in allocated capital for target markets across the UK and Europe.

ALMCOR, with over 25 years of experience, and Cerberus, a pioneer in alternative investing with c.$60bn in assets, aim to identify opportunistic real estate opportunities through their joint venture. The latest transaction brings OakNorth’s total lending to the JV to £37m.

Peter McCluskey, head of active value at ALMCOR, said: “These acquisitions provide an excellent snapshot into what we are doing in our EIOS platform. From the highly strategic location of Leyland Business Park, to the critical rail facility in Melton, we’re quickly developing a diverse income-producing portfolio with scope to drive value in a number of areas.”

David Lane, managing director, of Cerberus European Capital Advisors, said: “We’re delighted to welcome these two new major sites to our EIOS platform. We continue to value OakNorth’s approach to delivering structured debt funding and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

Deepesh Thakrar, senior director and Josh Mailling, senior associate of debt finance at OakNorth, in a joint statement said: “This is an excellent example of an asset that fits into Cerberus and ALMCOR’s investment strategy to acquire open storage assets with strong reversionary potential. Both sites are in highly sought-after locations with excellent connectivity, resulting in impressive occupancy rates, we anticipate they’ll be a successful addition to the EIOS platform.”