Land Securities
The company developed a structure that provided unparalleled flexibility
| Land Securities' capital structure The three-tier approach |
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Land Securities dramatically broke out of a corporate finance straitjacket last October. The UK commercial property company created a new capital structure that bridges the gap between unsecured borrowing and commercial mortgage-backed securitizations/whole business securitizations. Furthermore, it executed a complicated liability management exercise, efficiently refinancing its large debt pile and yet treating its existing bondholders as long-term strategic partners. Alongside arranger Citigroup, Land Securities developed a unique, efficient and flexible funding structure that was carved into secured and unsecured parts. The former is a highly innovative arrangement that included some £6.2 billion of assets that account for about 70% of the investment portfolio.
The key reason for implementing such a debt formula was to enable the company to grow in the short and medium term without undue restrictions.
"It came about from a frustration with the existing debt strategy, which was a cocktail of secured and unsecured debt," says Martin Wood, group tax and treasury director at Land Securities.