Gatehouse completes £8.6 million financing of UK petrol station portfolio

LONDON, 1 September, 2015: Gatehouse Bank plc (“Gatehouse”), the London-based investment bank specialising in Shariah-compliant products and services, is pleased to announce the completion of an £8.6 million senior financing to support Investra’s acquisition of a portfolio of five petrol stations in the UK.

Based in Dubai and with an office in London, Investra is a leading investor of UK real estate. This transaction is the second financing which Gatehouse has completed in partnership with an equity sponsor based in the GCC region in the past six months.

“We are very pleased to be supporting the acquisition of this high quality portfolio, which provides a good platform for further partnerships with Investra as they expand upon their activities in the UK,” said Eduardo Martin of Gatehouse’s Real Estate Finance team. “We worked closely with Investra to complete this transaction in a timely manner.”

Martin Waller, Managing Director of Investra, said: “It was great working with the Gatehouse team on this transaction. Their deep understanding of the needs of Gulf-based investors made a real difference for us, and we are delighted to have met our clients’ expectations for this deal. We have been an active investor in UK property for a number of years and are looking to increase our holdings of high-quality income generating assets.”

Henry Thompson, CEO of Gatehouse, said: “This transaction is the latest in a series of financings which we have completed for Gulf-based firms. It demonstrates significant demand for our financing solutions. Because we are providing financing on a Shariah compliant basis, there is a natural fit with Gulf-based partners. We remain excited about our Real Estate Finance offering, and we look forward to announcing further transactions in the coming months.”