Century Capital completes two prime country development deals

By Bridging Loan Directory 4th September 2020

Century Capital has completed on two prime country development opportunities, with complex planning angles, for a historical country estate in Sussex.

The latest transaction, taking place last week, demonstrates the flexibility of Century Capital in the current real estate climate.

Paul Munford, pictured, CEO, Century Capital, said:

“We are pleased to see the market is responding as a result of easing restrictions; however, we are far from returning to normal levels of lending that we saw pre-COVID.

These deals show that business is taking place and demonstrate that we are an agile and flexible business that can adapt to overcome challenges.”

The first loan was to fund the acquisition of an historic country estate in West Sussex with commercial planning consent. The property was originally owned by a famous 19th century politician.

Century Capital had lent to this successful property developer on multiple occasions, most recently when they purchased the dilapidated property in Hampshire and attained planning permission, post-exchange, to build a large, modern family home.

Century provided the loan last year at 90% of the purchase price. The borrower then invested further equity bringing the final GDV to £3.75m.

This year, the borrower had a rare opportunity to acquire a commercial asset of great provenance in Midhurst. The purchase of this currently commercial use asset was agreed at £1.6m, with a 10% deposit to exchange, with an application for residential planning consent which would bring the valuation to £3m. Timeframes were crucial and the structuring complex.

Century structured a new £1.7m gross loan for the borrower, providing the £1.45m required – being 90% of the purchase price – to complete the new purchase with a year’s interest retained in addition.

This was provided as a 2nd charge behind the previous loan on the Hampshire property, and a 1st charge on the commercial asset being purchased.

Century’s aggregated position was at £3m on £4.75m of security, with 63% loan to value. Following the granting of planning on the newly acquired asset, this will become £3m on £6m, being 50% loan to value.

Luke Navin, Head of Lending at Century said:

“This was an outstanding deal for Century as it demonstrated our agility to structure complex deals under limited times frames and is testament to the strong relationships we maintain with our borrowers.

We were ultimately able to deliver 90% funding on two prime country development opportunities with complex planning angles, leaving our borrower delighted.”