£1.15m Marylebone bridge completes in six days

Specialist lender Hampshire Trust Bank has announced that it has completed £1.15m of bridging finance for a new-to-bank overseas borrower, six days after issuing its formal offer.

The 12-month facility is secured against a property in Marylebone, London, and gives the borrower capital for two planned auction purchases.

Early legal and credit work on the deal

Because of the borrower’s overseas residency and the structure of the transaction, the legal, compliance and credit teams joined the process early to identify and address potential issues before the formal offer.

The lender instructed solicitors when it issued the decision in principle (DIP), so legal work ran alongside the case. It also raised the overseas residency considerations early and held preliminary discussions with credit before submitting the case for formal approval.

The formal offer went out on 6 October and the bridging finance completed on 12 October.

Afsheen Gul of Berkeley Commercial Finance introduced the deal, which Cain Lam oversaw. Underwriters Raj Aggarwal and Jordan Rivers supported the transaction, with Merali Beedle acting on the legal work.

“The six-day completion was the result of the work that happened before the offer was issued,” said Cain Lam, business development manager. “We instructed solicitors at DIP, raised the overseas residency points early and spoke to credit before formal submission. That meant we were working through the details as the case progressed, rather than leaving everything until the end.”

“By the time the offer was issued, the transaction was already well advanced, and we were able to maintain that momentum through to completion. It is a good example of why getting the right people involved early can make such a difference on a more complex bridging case.”

“I was really impressed with how smooth the process was,” said Afsheen Gul, chief executive of Berkeley Commercial Finance. “Responses came back quickly, and there was always a clear sense that the case was moving forward.”

“With a transaction like this, that communication makes a real difference. The team was responsive throughout and made the process far more straightforward than I had expected.”