Northern Ireland firm PBN refinances Cerberus loans

Another major Northern Ireland property firm, PBN, has refinanced its loans that were held by the Cerberus investment fund, the BBC understands.

Cerberus took control of the loans last year as part of its £1bn purchase of Nama's Northern Ireland loan book.

PBN, owned by Paddy Kearney, has now agreed finance with a new lender.

PBN owns shopping centres, offices and development sites in Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. A spokesman for Mr Kearney declined to comment.

The most recent accounts for PBN Holdings, for the year to June 2013, show that it made a profit of almost £7m on turnover of £23m.

The profit included a one-off gain amounting to more than £16m.

The firm's assets were valued at £328m and it had bank loans and overdrafts of more than £300m.

On Sunday, it was confirmed that the Newry-based property firm Parker Green International had refinanced its Cerberus loans.

A company such as Cerberus is not a long-term lender and when it buys loans it will expect the borrowers to pay them back quickly by seeking new finance or selling assets.