First loan awarded in Fund’s £20m venture

Progress: Andrew Antoniades THE Northern Ireland Investment Fund has handed out its first loan in a £20m venture.

It’s funding the new nine-storey Merchant Square redevelopment in Belfast city centre.

And fund chiefs hope the investment will “provide a gateway to unlock additional private sector funding” for the £70m Grade A office block on Wellington Place.

The £100m Northern Ireland Investment Fund, which is managed by CBRE’s Investment Advisory team, part of CBRE Capital Advisors, was launched in November.

The fund was set up to provide debt finance for property, regeneration, low carbon and infrastructure projects.

It’s managed by CBRE on behalf of the Department of Finance and the Northern Ireland Strategic Investment Board.

The Merchant Square development will replace Oyster House.

Andrew Antoniades, senior director at CBRE Investment Advisory, said: “We are excited to be getting the fund off to a fantastic start, well ahead of forecast.

“Making such a significant investment is a statement showing what the fund is about — supporting regional growth whilst delivering exceptional leverage, outputs and returns for the fund,” he added.

“We are well progressed with other exciting schemes within and outside Belfast and remain very much open for more applications.”