OakNorth Bank agrees £16.5m facility with Mumbles Group

By Bridging Loan Directory 26th November 2020

OakNorth Bank – the UK bank powered by OakNorth – has agreed a £16.5m facility to Mumbles Group

The facility will allow capital to be released into Mumbles Group and allow them to grow their business through the acquisition and development of two new petrol stations with Co-op convenience stores in Newquay and Guildford – both of which have prominent positions on main roads.

The capital will also provide equity release against three existing and newly refurbished sites in Berkshire, Newbury and Plymouth.

Mumbles Group is a privately-owned property company with a track record of successful development projects, concentrating on the development of roadside sites for new petrol filling stations with convenience stores.

Its modus operandi is to locate assets and opportunities with development potential through the team’s knowledge of the market and extensive network of contacts.

The team then manages the development, working with a long-established network of professional organisations and individuals who provide services which meet its occupiers’ timescales and standards. Its current occupiers include: BP, Co-operative Group, the Co-op, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Vets4Pets.

Commenting on the transaction, Dominic David, Managing Director of Mumbles Group, said:

“Forecourts are an important part of the wider convenience sector, and have played a vital role throughout the pandemic, providing hundreds of thousands of people with employment and a local food and supplies source.

Our approach is to build strong relationships with our clients and ensure we have a thorough understanding of their business needs from the point of project inception.

This is the same approach taken by the team at OakNorth Bank who took the time to get to know our business and design a bespoke facility for our needs.”

Eamonn O’Rourke, Director of Property Finance at OakNorth, added:

“While high street retail has been one of the most heavily-impacted sectors due to COVID-19, convenience store retailers have been much more resilient, capitalising on the fact that shoppers want to stay closer to home and avoid larger, busier stores.

As the country once again enters into lockdown with the government’s message being to “stay at home”, convenience stores have an opportunity to continue this growth trajectory and increase loyalty.

The team at Mumbles is in a prime position to take advantage of this trend, so we’re delighted we’ve been able to support them.

The management team have over a century of property development experience between them, completing a variety of commercial and residential projects, including several service station projects.”