Bridging a bridge

By Bridging Loan Directory 6th May 2015

As the name would suggest, short term finance is a loan facility for a set short period of time normally 12 months, but what happens if this period needs to be extended? Can you bridge a bridge?

With the right lender, the answer is yes.

Specialist commercial lender, Lancashire Mortgage Corporation (LMC), recently facilitated a £3.2 million limited company re-bridge for broker partner Brightstar Financial in just five days.

Brightstar’s client was a successful entrepreneur who had been turned down by traditional lenders. The client required a short term loan facility to pay off an existing first charge bridging loan on a large detached property, set in 20 acres, which he has converted into a substantial residential investment property valued at £5.5 million.

Jamie Jolly, commercial relationship development manager at Lancashire Mortgage Corporation, said:

“Because of the complexities of the case, high street lenders and other bridging loan providers were unable to provide funding in the time permitted. There was significant pressure to redeem the first bridge, in this case time was of the essence. As a lender with over 40 year’s experience, we were able to take a common sense approach to the loan and advanced the £3.2 million in just five days.”

Kit Thompson, head of bridging at Brightstar, said:

“Bridging a bridging loan is uncommon but we knew LMC would be able to provide the flexibility our client needed. Its finance enabled the client to repay his existing bridging lender and raise an additional £200,000 for his latest UK business venture.

“Thanks to the innovate approach to bridging from LMC our client’s refinance application is already underway and he expects to be able to refinance the whole debt onto a mortgage within the next few months. This case is a great example of how bridging finance can work alongside term lending, to provide a short term funding solution until longer-term finance can be put in place.”