SHB.L Share News (SHB)

Real estate investor Shaftesbury secured on Wednesday a £130m loan with Aviva Commercial Finance.The 15-year loan will be secured on certain properties held in a subsidiary company and has a fixed interest rate of 3.2%.Shaftesbury said it will cancel a £100m credit facility with Nationwide which was due to expire in September 2016. The remaining £50m facility with the bank will be refinanced "in due course", the group said.Furthermore, it will also terminate £70m interest rate swaps at a cost of £28.1m.The loan will increase the weighted average maturity of debt from 6.7 years to 8.7 years and reduce the average cost of debt by 25 points.The company owns buildings around Carnaby, Covent Garden, Soho and Chinatown.Finance director Chris Ward said: "We are pleased to have secured this financing during a period of extremely low gilt yields, and with a lender of the calibre of Aviva."Long-term funding is a natural fit with our business model and portfolio of good quality assets with secure income streams."Shaftesbury said last month in a trading update that it could end contracts used to manage interest rate risk which will cost between £30m and £40m and hurt its net asset value.The group added it was investing in shops, cafes, restaurants and bars in the West End as it was well placed to benefit from the demand in London and the investment the city is attracting."With the benefit of our local knowledge and innovative approach to managing our assets, we remain confident in the long-term prospects of our business," it said at the time.Shares in Shaftesbury were up 0.19% to 809.5p on Wednesday at 08:41.