10th January 2013

Aberdeen-based West Coast Estates Ltd, a developer and investor in property across Scotland, has secured an £8.75m facility from Royal Bank of Scotland Corporate & Institutional Banking (RBS CIB).

West Coast Estates was established in 1991 when it purchased its first properties in Glasgow.  Since then it has expanded its portfolio, remaining focused primarily on Scotland and investing in industrial, retail, office and residential properties.  Over the last two years, it has had particular success in purchasing retail units in the Aberdeen area which it has then successfully leased to national supermarket operators for local convenience stores.  So far it has signed 15-year leases for two such stores, including one on Union Street, with two more planned shortly. 

The funding package sees RBS refinance its existing arrangement with West Coast Estates as well as to take on the refinancing of a previous lender.  It has also made an additional £1.5m available to enable the company to take advantage of the opportunities available to it.  The total value of this new package is £8.75m.

"We are delighted to be able to extend our relationship with the CIB team at the Royal Bank of Scotland. They have a wealth of experience in this sector and have taken the time to understand our requirements. This means they've been able to come up with a package that really meets our needs and will go a long way to help us realise our ambitions and continue to grow the business."

Iftikar Mian, director, West Coast Estates Ltd

"West Coast Estates has been a client of ours for the last 10 years. It is a great example of a successful company in the sector with an impressive portfolio of clients and we are delighted to have been able to support Iftikar and the team by arranging this refinancing package and increasing the facilities available to it. Funding development schemes is core to our business and supports construction jobs and future employment in the UK."

Stuart Heslop, Regional Managing Director, Real Estate Finance, RBS CIB
distributed by