Tour des Finances NV GVBF v CBRE Loan Services Limited

Facts

The claimant, Tour des Finances NV GVBF, owns the Tour des Finances in Brussels, said to be the largest office building in Belgium and let principally to the Belgian federal government. It financed its acquisition of the property in 2020, at a price exceeding €1.2 billion, on terms now contained in an Amended Facilities Agreement dated 12 December 2024. The defendant, CBRE Loan Services Limited, is the Agent and Security Agent under that agreement, acting for eight commercial lenders whose lending is managed by PIMCO Prime Real Estate GmbH. The agreement provides for a "Cash Trap Event", diverting rental income into a Cash Trap Account, where the loan to value ratio of the property, measured by a Valuation as defined, exceeds a defined level. Earlier valuations by BNP Paribas Real Estate Belgium, Knight Frank and Colliers had produced figures of around €1.07 to €1.1 billion, which would not have triggered the mechanism; the claimant asked for Colliers to be appointed, but the defendant instead instructed Jones Lang LaSalle in March 2026, which valued the property at approximately €920 million. The claimant alleged that the defendant or the lenders had interfered with JLL's valuation, that JLL was neither independent nor unbiased, and that its report was therefore not a Valuation as defined. It sought a declaration to that effect and the release of withheld rental income. The trial was expedited.