Supermarket Income REIT plc (LON:SUPR), the real estate investment trust providing secure, inflation-linked, long income from grocery property in the UK, announces the completion of a comprehensive debt refinancing exercise.
Debt refinancing
The debt refinancing exercise involved the cancellation of two shorter-dated debt facilities, the reduction and extension of an existing debt facility and the completion of a new unsecured debt facility with a new lender.
Overall, Supermarket Income REIT has reduced its loan-to-value (“LTV”) ratio to 34%1 (December 2022: 40%) and the weighted average term of debt is now in excess of four years2. Over 60% of the Company’s debt facilities are now unsecured (December 2022: 48%) and the Company has available undrawn committed facilities in excess of £100 million.
· The Company has cancelled two of its shorter-dated debt facilities, including the £77.5 million secured revolving credit facility (“RCF”) with Barclays and Royal Bank of Canada, and the £62.1 million unsecured debt facility provided by a syndicate of relationship banks
· The existing secured interest-only £150 million RCF with HSBC has been refinanced with a new £50 million, secured, three-year RCF with a £75 million uncommitted accordion option. The new RCF has two one-year extension options and a margin of 170 bps over SONIA
· A new £67 million, unsecured, three-year debt facility has been completed with Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (“SMBC”). The debt facility has two one-year extension options and a margin of 140 bps over SONIA
Hedging update
The Company has also used the value of its existing in-the-money interest rate hedges to extend the term of its hedging arrangements to match the maturity of its debt facilities at no additional cost to the Company. 100% of the Company’s drawn debt is now either fixed rate or hedged to a fixed rate, representing a weighted average all-in cost of debt of 3.1%.
Ben Green, Director of Atrato Capital Limited, the Investment Adviser to Supermarket Income REIT, said:
“We are very pleased to be working with new lender SMBC in the refinancing of the Company’s debt facilities whilst benefitting from the continuing support of our existing relationship banks. We have also been able to extend hedging to further protect the Company’s balance sheet at no additional cost.
The Company continues to be able to access debt financing at attractive margins, however, given the current macroeconomic environment the Board considers it prudent to maintain a lower LTV.”
Supermarket Income REIT plc (LSE: SUPR) is a real estate investment trust dedicated to investing in grocery properties which are an essential part of the UK’s feed the nation infrastructure. The Company focuses on grocery stores which are omnichannel, fulfilling online and in-person sales. All of the Company’s supermarkets are let to leading UK supermarket operators, diversified by both tenant and geography.
The Company provides investors with attractive, long-dated, secure, inflation-linked, growing income with the potential for capital appreciation over the longer term and targets a 7% to 10% p.a. total shareholder return over the medium term(1).
The Company is listed on the premium segment of the Official List of the UK Financial Conduct Authority and its Ordinary Shares are traded on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange, having listed initially on the Specialist Fund Segment of the Main Market on 21 July 2017.
1. There is no certainty that these illustrative projections will be achieved
