Pinsent Masons and Travers Smith have lined up on the £425m refinancing of self-storage specialist Safestore.

Pinsents advised Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC, as joint organisers of syndicated loans worth more than £300m, with banking partner Chris Tart at the helm.

Travers Smith banking partner Paul Lyons took the lead for Safestore, one of the largest self-storage providers in Europe, supported by senior associate Danny Peel and corporate partner Andrew Gillen.

The firm became Safestore's principal adviser in 2009, when it acted on a previous refinancing.
Morrison & Foerster provided US law advice on the deal, which also involved a $115m (£98m) US private placement led by insurer AIG alongside £270m and €70m (£57m) syndicated, secured term loan and revolving credit facilities from RBS and HSBC.

Tart said: "There is additional appetite from US private placement investors to diversify the range of companies they will look to invest in, as many private placement issuances continue to be over-subscribed.  Consequently, tapping the liquidity within the US private placement market is becoming an increasingly attractive option for UK corporates."

Safestore is headquartered in the UK and has more than 43,700 customers operating from 119 stores across Europe.