Mark Harrison launches new lender

By David Craik 4th October 2022

The industry welcomed a new breath of fresh air this week as industry veteran Mark Harrison launched bridging and development finance lender Breeze Capital.

Breeze, which officially launched on October 3^rd, is based in Chester and will provide a full spectrum of short-term lending products, from light and heavy bridging loans to ground up development finance.

It will cover all of England and Wales with a focus on the North of England and the Midlands and can lend from £50,000 up to £3m and up to 70% LTV.

It aims to do around £15m of business in its first year.

Harrison, who left his role as Director of Business Development at Stretton Capital in September after almost 4 and a half years, and has held senior roles at Bank of Scotland, Mortgages PLC and GE Capital, is currently running Breeze single handed but is set to announce further senior hires shortly.

The business is being supported by a high-net-worth family in addition to institutional funding lines, more of which will be sought as the business grows.

“I’m very fortunate that my co-founders financial strength and unwavering support makes our proposition extremely compelling, and when you combine that with my experience and that of my yet to be announced colleagues it provides all the ingredients for a successful lender,” he said.

“This last two years or so have changed my outlook on life, particularly my working life and it’s hugely important that my colleagues and I enjoy what we do.”

He said the first 24 hours post-launch had been ‘manic’ receiving over 100 LinkedIn, Text or WhatsApp messages mainly from brokers.

“The launch has been far, far bigger than I thought it would be,” he said. “I thought we would go under the radar with everyone talking about inflation and a difficult market, but it has gone the opposite way.

I’ve been through the credit crunch and Covid and the one thing about this industry is that it is really adaptable. We cope with what is thrown at us. People still need to build houses and buy and sell property.”

Harrison says he aims to build a vibrant working environment and provide speedy and fuss-free lending with no drama.

Just like the high street banks, Breeze will consider a maximum 30% personal guarantee from each director/shareholder and there will be no collateral warranties for development loans under £1m.

The people who make the decisions will also always be the ones clients speak to regarding their loans.

“Everyone talks about service but not many lenders actually walk the walk,” he said. “Our guarantee is that if anyone makes an enquiry on a working day, they will get terms that day. Even if it is 8 o’clock in the evening!”