Ulster Bank Wealth Investors Share Profit From Refinancing of FSA Headquarters In London's Canary Wharf

07 August 2007

Evans Randall, the UK based investment banking and private equity group, will deliver a substantial return of cash for some clients of Ulster Bank Wealth following the refinancing of one of its key London property assets.

The group will return to investors c.£20m of their initial £34.5m investment in the Financial Services Authority headquarters at 25 North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14, following a £205m refinancing deal with Credit Suisse.

A significant number of investors benefiting from the return of cash are clients of Ulster Bank Wealth, who placed equity in the transaction following the acquisition of the building by Evans Randall in December 2005. Michael MacDonagh and Tim Bohan of Bomac Properties, Galway, worked closely with Evans Randall to facilitate this placement in Ireland with Ulster Bank.

Joe Molloy, Head of Ulster Bank Wealth said, "Investors will receive a return of 60% of their original equity invested while maintaining the same proportional interest in the underlying asset, less than 15 months from initial investment period. This is an excellent result."

The returns delivered by this particular transaction and other sales endorse Evans Randall and Ulster Bank's property investment strategy, of identifying opportunities for value growth from high quality, well located commercial property assets let to first class tenants.

Michael Evans, Chief Executive of Evans Randall, said, "This refinancing gives us the opportunity to deliver a very impressive return of cash invested to our investor clients within a relatively short timescale, following a period of significant growth in the prime London property market.

"We see this growth continuing for high quality well-let assets and we will continue our ongoing acquisition programme both in the UK and in the key financial centres of mainland Europe. The FSA headquarters at North Colonnade will remain in our portfolio and we expect further significant growth from this investment in the future."