Liverpool One mulls refinancing

Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster's property arm, is in early talks over the refinancing of it's Liverpool One shopping centre.

The finance is due for repayment in 2012, but in the current climate developers tend to open talks with banks at a very early stage.

The banks include Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank and HSBC. There is around £400m of debt involved.

The scheme is owned by Grosvenor and an investor consortium who together injected around £225m of equity and it has been hugely successful. There is little doubt that banks do have an appetite for refinancing large prime retail developments at present - it is the secondary market that faces grave problems.

Liverpool One is one of the largest retail and mixed-use schemes in the Uk and has more than 1.6m sq ft of retail space. Homes and leisure space are also included within the scheme.