New York Times bought earlier this year
The New York branch of the Bank of China provided the non-recourse loan. Terms were not disclosed. "Despite the fact that a large number of lenders remain on the sidelines, especially for loans over $50 million, we continue to see strong interest for loans on high-quality properties that are owned by strong, experienced sponsors," says Steve Kohn, president of Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman, in an announcement. The firm was the exclusive advisor in the financing to Carey and two of its non-traded REITs, which specialize in sale-leaseback acquisitions.
The financing is the loan commitment with a foreign lender that W.P. Carey president and CEO Gordon DuGan referenced, without specifics, as being in the works during the company's last quarterly earnings call, a company spokesman confirms. "They're lending today because they do see opportunity," DuGan said at the time about the then-unnamed lender. This is the first time Carey and the Bank of China have done business together.
Despite the fact that debt capital continues to be scarce for the commercial real estate sector, Carey has in fact been able to secure several hundred million dollars of financings and refinancings during the course of the past year. In addition to the New York Times headquarters loan, Carey has closed on another approximately $260 million of debt for other properties since September of 2008--all in the form of non-recourse loans and during a time when, for net-leased properties at least, partial or full recourse has returned to being the norm.
DuGan recently told GlobeSt.com sister publication Real Estate Forum that while Carey has been successfully securing debt financing, it is still a very challenging market with a limited number of active lenders out there. In Carey's recent financings, he reports that the company has typically been getting 10-year loans at 50% to 60% loan-to-value, amortizations of 20 or 25 years and pricing spreads in the 200 to 350 range. "Those are standard terms," he says. "Those are the terms that I saw for 20 years, and we're back to those kinds of terms."
Some non-US-based banks have been among the top lenders for single-tenant properties, according to recent Real Capital Analytics Inc. market data research. During the 12 months through the second quarter of this year, the top lenders for single-tenant office deals included Rabobank and SNS Property Finance, both based in the Netherlands; top lenders for single-tenant industrial assets included Allianz SE of Germany, Canada's TD Bank Financial Group, Allied Irish Bank and SMBC Leasing and Finance of Japan; and top lenders for single-tenant retail properties included TD Bank Financial.
"Given the ongoing challenges of the debt markets, we are very pleased to have closed $380 million in non-recourse financings," DuGan says in announcing the Times building financing. "We believe that our investment strategy of acquiring income producing, mission critical assets and financing them with moderately leveraged non-recourse financing has positioned us well to weather these challenging times."
The $225-million sale-leaseback, closed in March, encompassed the newspaper company's 750,000-square-foot leasehold condominium interest in the 620 Eighth Avenue building, which was developed by a joint venture of The New York Times Co. and Forest City Ratner Cos. The Times leased the headquarters space back for 15 years and has an option to repurchase it for $250 million during the 10th year of its lease. Annual rent started at $24 million for the first year, with escalations during the term of the lease.
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