Canary Wharf has secured a £190 mln (EUR 227 mln) development and investment loan facility for the construction of a major office scheme at 25 Churchill Place in the London business district.

The facility was secured from a syndicate of banks consisting of Barclays Bank, pbb Deutsche Pfandbriefbank, Lloyds TSB and The Royal Bank of Scotland; with Barclays also acting as coordinator, agent and security trustee.

The 23-storey tower providing 46,500 m2 of space is set to be completed by the end of 2014. Roughly half of the scheme is pre-let to the European Medicines Agency.

'We are delighted to have concluded this facility in the current difficult financial market,' said Peter Anderson, managing director Finance at Canary Wharf Group. 'It shows that with a good consortium of lenders and the right project it is still possible to raise significant construction funding.' Construction is due to start in early 2012.