French Billionaire Takes $250M J.P. Morgan Chase Loan to Fund Buy of Thor’s 693 Fifth
By Danielle Balbi June 16, 2016 10:07 am
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Sometimes even billionaires need to borrow money.
French finance tycoon Ladreit de Lacharrière—the chief executive officer of Financière Marc de Lacharrière, parent company of Fitch Ratings—scored $250 million in debt from J.P. Morgan Chase for the $525 million acquisition of 693 Fifth Avenue from Thor Equities, Commercial Observer can first report.
CBRE (CBRE)’s Shawn Rosenthal and Jason Gaccione, executive vice president and senior vice president, respectively, at the brokerage’s Midtown Manhattan office, arranged the financing on behalf of the borrower. The debt from J.P. Morgan Chase carries a 10-year term and a fixed rate.
“The financing markets truly embraced this trophy building, the prime Fifth Avenue location, and the strong overseas buyer and its commitment to the asset,” Rosenthal said in prepared remarks provided to CO. “CBRE was able to quickly and effectively cover the broad financing markets including balance sheet and CMBS lenders and, within a short 30-day period, deliver the buyer a long-term financing solution at a historically low interest rate.“
In early May, CO first reported that Joseph Sitt’s company was selling the 20-story, 105,422-square-foot Midtown office between East 54th and East 55th Streets in an off-market deal to a non-traditional developer. On June 10, the deal closed and Real Estate Alert revealed the identity of the buyer.
CBRE’s Darcy Stacom and Marcella Fasulo represented Thor and savitt partners‘ Robert Conover and Michael Dubin represented Financière Marc de Lacharrière in the sale.
Thor saw a significant upsell on the property, having bought it up for $142.5 million in 2010, making the recent price tag more than three times the firm’s original purchase price. In 2013, Valentino took the 19,600-square-foot anchor retail space in the building for $3,000 per square foot. Last summer, London-based Carpenters Workshop Gallery took 5,300 square feet of gallery space on the building’s top two floors, as CO previously reported. Architect David Chipperfield designed the retail space.
A spokeswoman for the bank did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A representative for Financière Marc de Lacharrière could not immediately be reached.
