Aviva provides sustainable finance for UK REIT

Aviva Investors has provided £57 million in sustainable transition financing for a UK logistics real estate investment trust.

The nine-year facility for Urban Logistics REIT is secured against a portfolio of ten logistics assets across the UK, totalling more than 900,000 sq ft of space. It is the fifth such financing Aviva has extended to Urban Logistics REIT since March 2021.

The new loan includes a commitment from Urban Logistics to undertake sustainability improvements across the ten assets being lent against, as well as 23 additional properties from previous tranches of financing which were not sustainability-linked. 

As a result, the entire lending programme between the two businesses is now aligned with Aviva Investors’ £1 billion-plus Sustainable Transition Loans framework.

Richard Moffitt, CEO at Logistics Asset Management, said: “We have worked with Aviva Investors for a number of years, taking out competitively priced, fixed term debt, reducing the REIT’s exposure to interest rate volatility. This refinance allows us to do exactly this, moving the total debt book to an all in cost of 4.2%, 93% hedged or fixed to term, while the sustainability link further embeds our ESG targets across the business.”