Roma Finance has completed its first commercial mortgage, providing a £2.4m, 15-year facility to Alistructures Limited for Hermitage Works Business Park in Market Harborough, 25 working days after the transaction was submitted.
The deal refinances an existing Roma development finance facility and moves Alistructures onto longer-term funding now that the site is redeveloped and generating rental income. The facility carries a five-year fixed rate of 8.52% and was provided at 63% LTV against a market value of £4.2m.
The completion arrives one month after Roma launched its commercial mortgage product and follows the lender's forward-flow funding agreement with J.P. Morgan, announced in June.
Hermitage Works Business Park sits just outside Market Harborough on Desborough Road and comprises several offices alongside a new commercial building. The site is currently 80% let, with tenants including a Trackman golf simulator, East Midlands Martial Arts, and a Transform Hub gym.
Three units remain available, marketed through BTG Eddisons and subject to negotiations with prospective tenants.
Alistructures Limited, which operates in the construction and rental of commercial buildings, first approached Roma in 2024 for development finance to redevelop the site from a semi-derelict former farmyard into its current configuration.
Roma's commercial mortgage range offers funding of up to £2m at up to 70% LTV, with fixed-rate and longer-term options available.
"It's a particularly significant transaction for us because it's our first commercial mortgage completion, coming so soon after we launched the product," said Michael Allison, commercial director at Roma Finance.
"We've been working hard behind the scenes to build the capability and funding infrastructure to support longer-term commercial lending, so seeing that come through into a completed transaction is fantastic for the team.
"What's equally important is the journey behind the deal. We originally provided the development finance for this site, and we've now been able to support the customer again with longer-term funding as the asset has reached the next stage. Being able to work in collaboration with the broker, with the same customer across different stages of their property journey, is exactly the kind of longer-term relationships we want to build at Roma.
"It shows the benefit of taking a flexible, broker- and customer-focused approach and understanding what the borrower is ultimately trying to achieve, rather than looking only at the immediate funding requirement.
"It's been a hugely productive few months for Roma, following the announcement of our J.P. Morgan forward-flow agreement in June, the launch of commercial mortgages and now our first completion.
"Completing this deal in just 25 working days is another great result for the team and demonstrates that longer-term finance doesn't have to mean losing the speed and responsiveness that customers value from Roma. There is a lot more to come, but this is a great example of what we're building."
"Roma understood the property and our plans from the outset, having supported us with the development finance," said Seymour Guinness, director of Alistructures Limited.
"Being able to move onto longer-term funding with the same lender has made the process much more straightforward and gives us certainty over the next stage of the investment.
"The development has transformed the site and it's now generating a strong rental income, so the commercial mortgage provides the right funding structure for where the property is today. Having Roma involved through both stages has been a real benefit."
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