Real Estate Finance

The Loan Market Association is the trade body for the syndicated loan market in EMEA. Our aim in the REF sector is fivefold:

  1. to bring about increased efficiencies and standardisation in the European REF market via the publication of recommended forms of REF documentation;
  2. to highlight the legal and regulatory issues in the REF sector which have the potential to impact members working in this market;
  3. to discuss any challenges (legal or otherwise) affecting the REF market and to lobby key decision-makers, where necessary, in an attempt to bring about constructive change;
  4. to provide a series of dedicated events specifically aimed at participants working in the REF market, to assist them in furthering their knowledge of the sector generally and also in understanding our real estate documentation; and
  5. to consider ways to improve liquidity and facilitate investment in the REF sector, by encouraging new investors to the market.

To view a flyer summarising our Real Estate Finance aims and activities click here.

Our core activities in Real Estate Finance are:

Documentation & Market Guidelines

We continually launch and revise our suite of documents for use specifically in the REF market, some of which include:

  • In April 2017, the LMA revised the German Law Euro Term Facility Agreement (in both German and English) to take into account changes made to the English law REF facility agreements in February 2017.
  • In February 2017, the LMA revised the intercreditor agreements for both structural and contractual subordination, and the English Law REF Facility Agreements to take into account changes made to the leveraged documentation in November 2016.
  • In November 2016, the LMA launched a new security agreement intended for use on real estate finance transactions, as well as consequential changes to the LMA REF facility agreements and term sheets.
  • In August 2016, the LMA launched a new recommended form of intercreditor agreement for contractual subordination, which complements our existing intercreditor documentation.
  • A German language user guide to German law multi-property investment facility agreements was launched in July 2016.
  • An insurance Broker Letter, with accompanying user guide, was published in February 2016 for use alongside the multi-property investment facility agreement.

We also constantly monitor trends in the market to ensure our documents are up-to-date and accommodate current market practice as well as regulatory and legal requirements.

Education & Events

In 2017, we ran our fifth REF Conference in London and are looking forward to hosting our fourth REF Conference in Munich in June. We continue to run training days throughout the year to coincide with the launch of new documents and run ad-hoc evening seminars on topics pertinent to the market.

Regulation & Lobbying

We play a vital role in monitoring regulatory developments and in making sure that new legislation does not have unintended consequences for the loan market.

We publish regular alerts on changes to legislation, regulatory consultations, government body communications and court rulings on our microsite.