Type: Senior Loan Acquisition
Loan Amount: £4.8m
Term: 18 months
Location: Kingston-Upon-Thames

AT A GLANCE
In 2022, GRE Finance provided an 18-month senior loan of £4.8m, secured by a 1.5-acre site in Kingston, southwest London, comprising an existing 21,000 sq ft former hospital administrative building and 60 parking spaces. The loan was used to refinance part of the NHS trust’s deferred consideration from the clients’ purchase.

THE BRIEF
The client acquired the site from the NHS in October 2019 for £8.5m, agreeing to defer £5.5m of the purchase price. Following submission of a planning application for a 128-home senior living scheme, the client needed to refinance the deferred consideration which had become due. However, the planning application was refused, and at the same time, a local resident applied to Historic England requesting the administrative building to be listed, further preventing the borrower’s development plan.

THE SOLUTION
GRE Finance agreed terms to provide an 18-month senior loan secured over the property. The loan was structured in two tranches – with the majority available immediately and the remaining balance subject to the listing request being refused. GRE Finance’s independent planning consultant advised that the appeal was likely to be successful, while a separate valuation determined that alternative planning approaches would still result in an asset with a value greater than the loan amount.

THE OUTCOME
As a result of a conviction in the planning prognosis, an extremely experienced sponsor and our expertise, we were able to agree a loan on an asset many other lenders would have considered a higher risk.