Shaftesbury to receive cash from JV

Longmartin Properties, a 50/50 joint venture between real estate investment trust Shaftesbury and the Mercers' Company, has tapped up Aviva Commercial Finance for a 15-year loan.The facility is for £120m and is at a fixed rate of interest of 4.43%. The facility is secured against the assets of Longmartin and its subsidiaries. Longmartin will remit the proceeds of the loan after expenses to its shareholders through the repayment of loans and share capital.Shaftesbury will apply the monies it receives in repayment of existing bank indebtedness, thereby increasing its borrowing head room.Shares in the property company have risen 5.75% over the last year, while the real estate investment trust sector as a whole has dipped 13.2%. Shaftesbury attributed its solid performance to the resilience of the property market in London's West End, the area on which it focuses. At the end of November, the company said it had seen like-for-like rental growth of 7.5% in the year to end-September.jh