Traditional bank lending is being replaced on a large scale by alternative lenders including sovereign wealth funds and insurance companies, Blackstone’s managing director Marty Kandrac said during a conference on hotel refinancing at EXPO REAL. The US private equity group, which last month took control of UK hotel chain Mint Hotels for around £600 mln (EUR 687 mln), said the deal was financed with a £300 mln loan provided by a number of players, none of which was a bank.
'It was a fairly large transaction and a fairly large financing and it is noteworthy that none of the investors participating in the syndication process was in fact a bank,' he said. The financial institution which originated the loan effectively sold it down to a number of sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies and other financial institutions, Kandrac noted. 'We are seeing a large-scale replacement of banks’ role in the property industry.'
Click on the link below to read the online version of Wednesday's edition of the EXPO REAL DAILY NEWS | 
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