Citibank Europe has launched Pine Finance 2025-1 DAC, a single loan commercial mortgage-backed securitisation of a £115 million refinancing of Brookfield and China Life's 316,000-square-foot Aldgate Tower office in London.
The loan to borrower vehicle Aldgate Tower S.à r.l. has refinanced a prior CMBS, Viridis (European Loan Conduit No. 38) DAC. The borrower is controlled by Brookfield Property Partners (10%) and China Life Insurance Company (90%).
The securitisation brings to an end a period last year when the two owners were given a six-month extension on the then-£150 million securitised loan against the tower, as reported. They had needed more time to refinance the property out of the commercial mortgage-backed security, Morgan Stanley’s Viridis. The senior loan also included a £42 million tranche outside the CMBS. At the time Brookfield told CoStar News it had "no intention of defaulting on the asset".
The now agreed £115.7 million loan is collateralised by a 16-storey City fringe office tower that was completed in November 2014 without any prelets. The property was fully let up and sold to the joint venture in 2016 by Starwood Capital for £346 million. It is now 90% occupied with the two largest tenants being infrastructure consulting firm Aecom and ride-hailing company Uber.
Savills valued the asset at £251 million as of 8 November 2024 and the loan margin is expected to be 2.23% initially, according to Morningstar DBRS's presales document. The loan term is for five years from 15 April 2025 until 30 April 2030.
According to the documents, Brookfield and China Life are injecting £66.4 million of equity to amortise the loan securitised in Viridis (ELOC) No. 38 DAC, whose balance stands at £182.1 million. That puts the loan to value at 46.1%.
As of 21 October 2024, there was a weighted average lease to break and weighted average lease term of 5.2 years and 7.4 years, respectively.
Mount Street is the special servicer.
The European CMBS market has started 2025 with a flurry of transactions.
Last month, Citibank launched another securitisation, of three senior commercial real estate loans totalling £840 million secured against a giant portfolio of Blackstone Real Estate Partners' industrial assets in the UK, underscoring the recovering commercial mortgage-backed securities market across Europe. That was the fifth transaction in 2025.
CMBS deals priced tighter as 2024 progressed thanks to falling interest rates. There were five European deals in the year, meaning this year's transactions already exceed that number.
For a recent review of the improving CMBS market click here.