Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On March 28, 2018, financial close a syndicate of (at least) two lenders — including the Bank of China (BOC) and Landesbank Baden-Württemberg (LBBW) — entered into a $1.15 billion USD syndicated loan agreement with 450 Partners LLC — a Delaware-incorporated special purpose vehicle (SPV) and joint venture between Brookfield Property Partners L.P., a Bermuda-headquartered commercial real estate firm that is part of Canada's Brookfield Asset Management and the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar — for the 5 Manhattan West 2018 Refinancing Project. LBBW served as administrative agent. This loan was secured by (i.e. collateralized against) mortgages on properties at 450 W. 33rd St., 368 10th Ave., and a lot on West 31st Street and an assignment of leases from the properties charged by 450 Partners LLC. The proceeds were to be used by the borrower to replace and consolidate (refinance) a $570 million USD loan in financing from Wells Fargo and $580 million USD in new financing for 5 Manhattan West, a 16-story, 1.8 million-square foot building office building on 10th Avenue between 31st and 33rd Streets at 450 W. 33rd St. in Hudson Yards of Manhattan, New York City, New York. The building had recently underwent a $350 million USD renovation at the time of the refinancing. The property was 99% leased as of April 2018 with tenants included Amazon, JPMorgan, R/GA, Markit, Peloton, and Whole Foods.
Staff comments
1. Crain's New York Business claims that BOC was the lender for this $1.15 billion USD loan, not mentioning other lenders. While the other sources state that Landesbank Baden-Württemberg was the lender for this loan. Investigation into New York City's property records shows that Landesbank Baden-Württemberg was indeed a lender, but that it was administrative agent "for itself and certain co-lenders which are or may become party to the Loan". Therefore, AidData assumes that Crain's New York Business claim that BOC was a lender was not an error, but rather investigation of syndication. Still, this issue merits further investigation to find further proof of BOC's participation and if there were additional lenders. 2. The individual contributions of the lenders (at least two) to this $1.15 billion USD syndicated loan or a breakdown to each tranche is unknown. For the time being, to estimate BOC's contribution, AidData has assumed that each lender contributed equally ($575,000,000 USD) to the loan syndicate.