Fiduciam closes pair of development loans

Fiduciam, the short-term and marketplace lender, has just closed two development loans, with a total value of £2.5m, with one using its ‘Stepping Stone’ scheme.

The two loans, with values of £1.6m and £900,000 respectively, will provide funding for private developments in south London and on the south east coast.

The first loan took advantage of Fiduciam’s ‘Stepping Stone’ loan, which allows the transfer of equity from one project to another. This helps new projects to start earlier, permitting the developer to do more projects in a year and to grow by simply using the same capital more efficiently.

The loan, for £1.6m at an LTV of 55%, allows the borrower to use equity from a recently completed development to fund their new project. This will enable a shop, storage area, and one flat to be converted into five new flats and a shop.

The second deal was a £900,000, 18-month term, permitted development (multi-drawdown) loan for a refurbishment project on the South Coast.

The project will see a 19th century derelict period property, purchased at auction, converted into four separate high-end residences of two and three bedrooms. The sale of the individual residences provides the exit for the loan.

Marc Morris, case manager at Fiduciam, said “As COVID-19 slows the sale of completed projects it will also generate attractive opportunities to purchase new sites.

"The possibility of transferring equity from one project to the next will become ever more attractive and Fiduciam expects to see more applications for its ‘Stepping Stone’ loans over the coming months.

Ryan Parrett, business development manager at Fiduciam, added “Fostering long term relationships is at the heart of our business.

"In fact, the £1.6m ‘Stepping Stone’ loan this month was for a client who came to us a few years ago for an initial £200k loan.

"One of the joys of working with entrepreneurs and developers over a number of years is that we see, and are instrumental in, how their businesses grow.”