DEVELOPMENT BRIDGE FOR LIMITED COMPANY

Broker: Julian Ingall

Lender: Glenhawk

Loan amount: £5,512,500

Structure: Re-bridge

Asset Class: Development bridge

The client had existing borrowing with Glenhawk which we put in place in January for c. £3.4m on his main residence which is just in front of 4 additional plots that the client was developing and wished to refinance.

The 4 plots were built with finance from MSP (first charge) and Clearwell (mezz provider) over 2 years ago. This was development finance to build 4 high-end holiday lets on the Isle of Wight. These are now 90% complete with just the water connection to go however the client has had issues with Southern Water which meant that the client was extending the loan with MSP and Clearwell, beyond the term they initially wanted.

As the term had expired and both lenders wanted their money back, the client got in touch with us to re-bridge this. Technically, the loan was in default which meant the interest accruing was substantial and the equity was diminishing.

There was a further issue that the title wasn’t split so Glenhawk themselves would price this as one loan which was 0.2% a month more expensive. We then had issues with boundaries as the client owned a strip of land that was connected to his main residential which bordered these 4 plots.

The value the client believed the properties were worth exceeded any historical figures for the IOW by some margin which meant some lenders did not want to consider the deal.

The client needed any transaction to be completed ASAP due to extension fees costing the client around £350k. Just to compound matters, the client’s solicitor went on holiday for 2 weeks midway through the transaction without any notice.

Glenhawk already had a facility with the client and liked him/ his business however this would mean their exposure would be nearly £9m.

Working with the solicitors, they confirmed that the title didn’t need to be split, it could just be marked out with individual plots via the Land registry. This meant that we could split the loan 4 ways and benefit from the cheaper rate. This also was not deemed as development finance even though the properties were not fully complete which meant the rate was more desirable.

Coreco managed to complete the deal within 8 weeks and the valuation came in higher than we originally applied at. Coreco also negotiated with the original lenders on the clients’ behalf to ensure he did not face hefty default interest rates and there was a mutual understanding that if we got the loan repaid in a certain time period, this would save the client c. £350k in new arrangement fees to extend their loans which we managed to achieve.

The client also managed to release a further £50k from the new facility to spend on the finishing touches.

A complex set of challenges, but a positive result for the client.

Comments are closed.