SGS Group completes refinancing of four major shopping centres following £445m club loan from OakNorth

  • The four shopping centres are: Lakeside in Essex, Atria in Watford, Victoria Centre in Nottingham, and Braehead in Glasgow;
  • With a catchment population totalling 9.4m the sites are four of the leading shopping centres nationally;
  • Average occupancy rates for the sites have increased to 93%, with tenants consisting of international and national retail brands, including Next, Primark, Boots and H&M.

OakNorth, the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, has partnered with Lloyds on a £445m club loan to SGS Group, to refinance four major shopping centres across the UK.

The four sites are: Lakeside in Essex, Atria in Watford, Victoria Centre in Nottingham, and Braehead in Glasgow. The four shopping centres, spread across 4.6m sq. ft, have a catchment population totalling 9.4m and boast an average occupancy rate of 93%. Each site offers a diverse offering of retail, food & beverage and leisure attractions, with stand-out tenants consisting of some of the biggest international and national brands, including Next, Primark, Boots and H&M.

Commenting on the transaction, Jaap Tonckens, non-executive chairman of SGS Group, said: “These leading retail and leisure assets have gone from strength to strength over the past four years. The overwhelming support for the recapitalisation reflects this very strong performance and investor confidence in prime shopping centres. We were impressed by OakNorth’s expert knowledge of the UK’s commercial real estate sector throughout the entire transaction. I look forward to being a part of the next phase of the SGS journey to build upon the achievements to date.”

Max Saidman, Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth, added: “This transaction represented OakNorth with an attractive opportunity to back four significant and highly successful retail assets. All four sites have seen robust year-on-year growth to footfall and occupancy rates, reflecting the positive consumer demand for shopping centres in the South East, Midlands, and Scotland. Furthermore, with UK consumer confidence rising to its highest level in more than two years earlier this year[1], we see the attractiveness of these sites getting stronger moving forward.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

About OakNorth 

Launched in September 2015, OakNorth is the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, empowering the lower mid-market (businesses with £1m-£100m turnover) to support growth, prosperity, and innovation for the benefit of all. 

Since its launch, the bank has: 

  • Lent over £11bn to these businesses, directly helping with the creation of 40,000 new jobs and 29,000 new homes across the UK;
  • Provide deposit services to over c.250,000 savers.  

It is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.  

Visit www.oaknorth.co.uk for more information. 

About SGS  

SGS owns and manages four prime shopping centres in the UK (Lakeside – Greater London; Watford – Greater London; Victoria – Nottingham and Braehead – Glasgow).

Media contact

Tom Pavey-Smith, Associate Director, Growth & Communications – [email protected] / [email protected] / 0791 716 5588

[1] FT – UK consumer confidence hits two-year high in May

You may also be interested in

OakNorth provides £40m NAV facility to returning customer and closed-end investment company, Literacy Capital

Read more

SGS Group completes refinancing of four major shopping centres following £445m club loan from OakNorth

Read more

OakNorth completes £2m working capital facility to Spy Alarms, a private-equity backed installer of security systems, to support its continued buy-and-build strategy

Read more