Bruntwood SciTech has secured a new sustainability-linked loan to fund its ambitious future growth and investment strategy.
The three-year £95m facility, from NatWest, Lloyds Bank, Santander and HSBC UK, extends Bruntwood SciTech’s existing £185m green loan, which it agreed with the club in 2018, to £280m.
Bruntwood SciTech is a 50:50 joint venture between Bruntwood and Legal & General which is dedicated to the growth of the science and technology sector.
It will use the funding to invest into the ongoing development of Alderley Park at Manchester Science Park, which is the UK’s largest single-site life science campus; Platform – the home of tech in Leeds and the commercial buildings at Manchester’s newest neighbourhood, Circle Square.
The funding will also be used to support new acquisitions, such as the recently announced 16.4 acre Melbourn Science Park in Cambridge, as well as the development of the Innovation Birmingham Campus and the newly completed Citylabs 2.0, in Manchester, which is already fully let to leading global molecular diagnostics company QIAGEN for its new European Centre of Excellence for Precision Medicine.
The innovative funding package will see Bruntwood SciTech continue to receive a discount on its cost of funding by agreeing to fulfil bespoke sustainability-linked covenants across a number of initiatives including waste and recycling, green energy procurement and a pledge to reduce the energy intensity of its portfolio by more than 10% over the lifetime of the loan. Bruntwood SciTech already holds the ISO 50001 energy management standard and the latest funding will support it in becoming a gold standard low carbon company.
Kate Lawlor, CEO – Bruntwood SciTech, said: “Our innovation clusters are powering the future of the UK knowledge economy, providing the environments and ecosystems that companies in the science and tech sector need to form, scale and grow. We’re continuing to see significant demand for our specialist workspaces and labs and this new funding agreement gives us the platform to accelerate our growth responsibly and sustainably and perfectly aligns with our pledge to be Net Zero Carbon by 2030.”
Bruntwood SciTech was advised by Addleshaw Goddard and the lenders were advised by Shoosmiths, with CBRE providing valuations.
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