EXCLUSIVE: Charter HCP completes first deal under new brand

Charter HCP,the corporate finance and due diligence house set upby mortgage guru Terry Pritchard, has completed its first loan – a USD$33m purchaseof three five-star hotels in South Africa forInnVogue Hotels.

InnVogue is based in London and headed up by Paul Clark, former chief executive of The De’Vere Group and Virgin Hotels.

The deal was funded from one of Charter’s South African relationships and the line itself is worth in the region of USD$500m. It’s the first deal under this brand with Charter HCP's new funding line.

Terry Pritchard, chief executive of CharterHCPand the brand that will be used for business-to-business deals,said: “This is our first loan under the new brand with our new funding partners in this area but shows what can be achieved in the international market.

“We have structured a product that is in reality a medium purchase and refurb product for this client that morphs into a term loan after two years with a seamless switch and only a small administration charge. The initial rate is 8% reducing to 6% for the duration of the loan.”

Paul Clark, chief executive of InnVogue, added: “We are a new business but we have a group of experienced high end individuals and we have the equity slice in place to purchase and launch a hotel brand that will in time take on the best.

“We chose Charter HCP because we have seen them deliver for others and we received great references from others who have used them in the past.”

The hotels, which are inthreelocations, arealreadywell established and only need minor renovations to fit in with the InnVogue brand. They are expected tobe at full capacity within six months.

InnVogue have 12 other locations that will all be launching this year as part of a marketing campaign and Charter HCP has been involved in all of them,eitherthroughfunding or advising on the structure to be used.