CDC says it supplied a floating-rate loan to DMG World Media USA, the US unit of the British media conglomerate, to refinance the center. The property, situated at Olympic Boulevard and Main Street in the heart of the Downtown fashion district, consists of three 13-story interconnected buildings, one of which is being converted into a hard goods wholesaling center at the same time that the owners consolidate all soft goods tenants into the remaining two buildings. The financing, CDC says, will facilitate the ongoing repositioning process at the center, which has undergone a transition in recent years from its roots as a fashion industry showroom building.

DMG World Media, a wholly owned subsidiary of Daily Mail & General Trust, is a leading producer of consumer shows and trade exhibitions around the world. Los Angeles-based real estate investors William, Sara and Isaac Hertz also hold interests in the property. CDC Mortgage Capital is the US real estate financing unit of CDC IXIS of Paris.

DMG purchased what it called "a significant share" of the market center earlier this year. Terms of that transaction were not disclosed, but DMG is believed to have purchased less than a controlling interest in the facility, which Hertz acquired from New York City-based Equitable Life Assurance Society of America in 2001. Hertz paid about $90 million for the trio of 13-story buildings at Olympic Boulevard and Main Street, so even a 20% or 30% interest in the property would likely be a deal in the tens of millions of dollars.

DMG has leased space at the market center since August 2001, when it struck a deal to lease one million sf at the facility for 20 years and signed Dallas Market Center of Texas to manage the space. That initial lease was the beginning of the renovation and revitalization of the property, which was known for many years as the California Mart, but was renamed California Market Center.