Klövern AB and GDS Development Management are set to finance their latest acquisition by tapping an uncommon source of capital for New York real estate: the bond market in Klövern’s home nation of Sweden.
The developers have secured a $100 million mortgage for the co-op building at 417 Park Avenue in Midtown East, according to property records filed Wednesday. The lender named on the document, Nordic Trustee & Agency AB, is acting as agent on behalf of Klövern’s bondholders in connection with $100 million in senior secured bonds, the document says.
Klövern, a publicly traded company in Sweden, has not released any disclosures about new bond issuances. The company most recently issued an unsecured bond series last May, denominated in Swedish kronor, according to its website.
Property records indicate that the 417 Park Avenue mortgage is the first New York senior mortgage ever issued by Nordic Trustee. Klövern and GDS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The financing structure, in which a trust company provides a mortgage and issues securities to investors, appears broadly similar to CMBS loans as well as secured Israeli bond issuances, both of which are more common in New York.
Klövern and GDS acquired the property for $184 million in February, buying out all 29 co-op unit owners, and are likely to take advantage of the Midtown East rezoning to build a larger office building. At the time of the acquisition, Klövern noted in a press release that it was “initially financed mainly with bank loans.”
The 417 Park site marks Klövern’s fourth acquisition in New York, all of which have been in partnership with GDS. Two ongoing developments, at 1245 Broadway and 322-326 7th Avenue, are now expected to be completed one quarter later than planned given the coronavirus disruption, according to Klövern’s latest interim report. The start of construction on a third project, at 118 10th Avenue, has been pushed back from this quarter to next year.
Klövern’s real estate portfolio is heavily concentrated in Sweden, with New York properties accounting for 8 percent of its property value and Copenhagen another 8 percent.