Shawbrook has completed a £60.5m portfolio refinancing for UK real estate investor and asset manager Grace Real Estate Partners, a five-year interest-only senior facility secured against its 832-unit Northern Portfolio. The deal is the largest facility the lender has completed to date, and it supports the next phase of Grace's investment and asset management strategy.
The loan is secured against residential assets in Newcastle and the wider North East. It gives Grace a long-term capital structure as it continues to improve income, invest in the quality and energy efficiency of the buildings, and pursue further rental and operational gains.
Value-add strategy leads to portfolio refinancing
Grace entered the Newcastle market by buying a 478-unit residential portfolio in 2023, then added 354 self-contained studios across three freehold buildings in central Newcastle in June 2025. That created a cluster of 832 units.
With its value-add strategy executed, Grace sought a portfolio refinancing to replace the existing debt and move the assets past the acquisition and initial value-creation phase, into a period of continued optimisation and income growth.
The portfolio has gained about 22% in value over its aggregate acquisition value, helped by rental growth, targeted capital expenditure, better occupancy and more professional operations. Grace has also delivered its modernisation and energy-efficiency programme on time and below budget so far.
Shawbrook's Structured Real Estate team worked closely with Grace to understand the portfolio's income performance, its vertically integrated operating platform and its wider business plan. The team structured the portfolio refinancing to match the established income profile of the assets and support continued investment across the portfolio.
"We are delighted to support Grace with this significant refinancing," said Tirath Singh, head of structured real estate at Shawbrook. "The portfolio's strong performance reflects targeted investment and active management. By understanding the assets and wider business plan, we provided a flexible, long-term facility to support the next phase."
"Shawbrook and their professional and dedicated team engaged with both the portfolio and our wider business plan from the outset, and that understanding was central to delivering a transaction of this scale with certainty," explained Georges Tohme, founding director at Grace Real Estate Partners.
"Since our initial investment in Newcastle in 2023, we have built significant operational scale, strengthened income performance and continued to invest in the quality and energy efficiency of the assets. The new facility provides an appropriate long-term capital structure for the next phase of our business plan. We are thrilled with the outcome of this refinancing."
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