RBS backs Greenall’s distillery deal
The Royal Bank of Scotland has partly funded the acquisition of Warrington's famous G&J Greenall's gin distillery by investment company Saturon.
Saturon paid £5.25m to buy the brewery from the Norwich Union Life Pensions Fund. The 105,000 sq ft site on Clayton Road in Birchwood produces 6.5m cases of gin and vodka a year.
The RBS property finance team in Liverpool provided Saturon with a £2.6m funding package to complete the transaction.
A spokesman for RBS said activity had risen from June onwards with lending to Jolivet Investments, for £7m, Care Concepts, £4m, Sinderland Properties, £8m to complete Waitrose in Altrincham, signed off in that period. He added that further deals were in the pipeline.
The Greenall's site is leased to the De Vere Group on a ten-year lease from 2007. De Vere had to spend £3m rebuilding the distillery after it was destroyed by fire in 2005.
Paul Ashley, Saturon managing director, said: "This is an excellent, modern site that offers us good opportunity for capital growth. We are always looking for opportunities to add quality sites to our property portfolio and are very pleased to have concluded this transaction."
Andrea Kelly, relationship manager at RBS, said: "Paul is an experienced investor with a good knowledge of the UK's industrial property sector. The acquisition will enhance the range of properties that Saturon presently hold in its portfolio."
