Our customer had entered into an agreement to purchase 50% of the shares in a company which owned a valuable site with development potential.
A substantial first payment under the agreement had been made and the balance of the payment was due imminently. Accordingly our customer had a time critical requirement for a short term bridging facility primarily to maintain his relationship with his partner as well as avoid losing the deposit.
Our security was a portfolio of long leases over primarily commercial property and several issues arose as the case progressed. In addition, there was a complex ownership structure involving offshore companies and a trust. Subsequently the Bank’s lawyers had to utilise the services of its specialist corporate and property partners to help our customer resolve the issues as well as deal with the overseas lawyers.
Head of Bridging Alan Margolis commented that “The loan was like peeling an onion. Each time we thought we had resolved matters another issue appeared, but we and our solicitors, with the assistance of the customer, dealt with each issue in turn, taking commercial views where we had to. This was one of the most technically complex and challenging bridging loans I have dealt with in my 16 years in the business, but it was also one of the most interesting.”
Amount of Bridging loan: £4.575m LTV 60%