Developers Diversified Closes $400 Million Loan, Likely TALF Deal

A $400 million loan to property owner Developers Diversified Realty Corp (DDR) may be the first to be packaged into a commercial bond under a central bank facility.

The Cleveland, Ohio-based developer said Thursday it had closed on a new first mortgage financing from an affiliate of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS). The five-year loan is secured by 28 shopping centers.

"The company and Goldman Sachs are continuing to work with the Federal Reserve to make the newly originated loan eligible for the term asset-backed loan facility," DDR said in a press release.

Market participants are not sure if the Diversified deal will be ready for the next round of TALF subscriptions, the deadline for which is Oct. 21. Developers Diversified didn't return calls seeking comment, while Goldman declined to comment.

The Federal Reserve in May expanded the term asset-backed securities loan facility, or TALF, to include commercial mortgage-backed securities and to try to restart that market.

Under TALF, the government offers investors cheap loans to buy triple-A rated existing issues and newly created bonds backed by commercial mortgages.

While investors have tapped the program to buy more than $4 billion of existing commercial bonds, TALF hasn't yet revived the $800 billion market for new commercial mortgage bonds.

Five months into the program, there still are no new commercial mortgage bonds issued.

Over the past couple of months likely issuers of these bonds have found cheaper alternatives to meet their capital needs, especially to refinance their maturing loans.

Developers Diversified is one of the few to stick with the TALF route. The company added that it will use the capital to repay existing debt, and reduce its outstanding amounts on its revolving credit facilities.

-By Prabha Natarajan, Dow Jones Newswires, 212-416-2468; [e-mail]