Type: Senior Loan Acquisition
Loan Amount: £3.1m
Term: 12 months
Location: St.Albans, Hertfordshire

AT A GLANCE
GRE Finance provided a 12-month loan of £3.1m to fund the acquisition of a 1.09-acre brownfield freehold site in St Albans, with a planning application submitted but undecided for a 37-unit residential scheme.

THE BRIEF
The borrower, a newly established property development company founded by two experienced planning and real estate developers, had exchanged contracts to purchase the property – a brownfield site allocated for residential development, one mile from St Albans train station and a 20-minute walk from the town centre. The site had been largely cleared except for two storage warehouses. After submitting a planning application for a 37-residential unit scheme, the borrower needed to reconsider the number of proposed affordable housing.

THE SOLUTION
GRE Finance ran a sensitised scenario with an increased allocation of affordable homes, which supported the residual land value of £3.8m and whilst highly leveraged in a traditional sense, we felt the loan was sufficiently underpinned by the property’s market value.

THE OUTCOME
Having fully assessed the transaction, we were able to provide a highly leveraged solution using our planning and real estate knowledge and belief in the client’s business plan. GRE Finance provided a loan that many other lenders would have overlooked and considered too high risk.