Slaughter and May and Pinsent Masons have taken the lead roles on the arrangement of a £550m revolving credit facility for FTSE 250 property development and investment company Derwent London.

The refinancing, which was announced yesterday (1 October) is for five years, and is being provided by the company's principal relationship banks, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Baclays and Lloyds.

Derwent said the unsecured facility would replace £650m of secured bank facilities expiring between 2014 and 2017.

Slaughters took the role for Derwent, with corporate finance partner Matthew Tobin leading a team that included tax partner William Watson.

Earlier this year, the pair advised Derwent alongside Slaughters corporate partner Nilufer von Bismarck on the company's launch of a £150m convertible bonds offering, due 2019.

The magic circle firm has been a long-term adviser to the corporate, having acted for legacy Derwent Valley Holdings on its £1bn merger in 2007 with London Merchant Securities, and its subsequent conversion to a real estate investment trust.

Meanwhile, Pinsents landed the plum role for the four lending banks, with banking partner William Oliver leading a team that includes senior associate Liam Terry.

"We have seen a noticeable increase in transactions over the past three to six months, culminating in a peak period over the summer where we closed deals worth over £1.2bn in the space of a fortnight," commented Oliver.

"We have an encouraging pipeline in place and are hopeful that this is a positive sign of things to come."

Derwent London, which describes itself as "the largest central London focused real estate investment trust", owns and manages a portfolio of 5.5 million sq ft, worth £3.1bn.