Avamore Capital and Cogress combine on £8.6m GDV Bristol development

By Bridging Loan Directory 5th December 2017

Avamore Capital, the specialist development and bridging lender has teamed up with Cogress, leading open equity property firm, for a second time in a £5.6m development facility.

Avamore’s facility refinances an existing land bridge and will then provide over £3m of construction finance to fund the conversion and extension of a 19,600-sq. ft. site at 515-517 Stockwood Road, Brislington into up to 56 private residential units. Cogress has provided further £1.7m of equity to the deal. The development is Cogress’ and Avamore’s first venture with specialist builders, Complete Project Development Ltd (“CPD”), and is expected to last up to 24 months.

The finished units will be highly desired by buyers given the affordable pricing and their access to central Bristol, which in March 2017 was voted the best place to live in the UK for the third time in four years by The Sunday Times. With a target GDV in excess of £8.6m, this project will enhance Bristol’s position as one of the UK’s top property investment locations.

Cogress and CPD required a responsive and flexible debt finance partner to work with on the scheme, one that could make fast decisions and one that offered a flexible approach on some of the site’s potential unit mix permutations. CPD’s Director Tony Dowie contacted Avamore Co-Founder Nick Petkov directly and negotiated the facility. Given Cogress’ previous experience with Avamore, Cogress were happy to recommend Avamore as a funding partner. Additionally, given Cogress’ involvement in the scheme, Avamore was very happy to back CPD as the developer.

Tal Orly, Founder & CEO of Cogress UK, said:

“It’s great to be working with Avamore again to offer the most robust and intelligent investment opportunities to our network of qualified investors. They supported us previously on a challenging transaction and showed great flexibility. With this facility our partner CPD can crack on and deliver much needed housing to the Bristol market and deliver a great return for us and our investors.”

Michael Dean, Co-Founder & Principal of Avamore Capital, said:

“It’s really fantastic to be working with Cogress again on this transaction. With Cogress you know that you have a great equity sponsor who will provide the necessary support to their developers on well-underwritten projects. In this case this is a scheme that we like with a really affordable price point per unit in an up and coming area of Bristol. This scheme will act as a major catalyst for regeneration in the immediate area. The site has great optionality and offers plenty of profitable upside for the customer which for us is critical when assessing whether to lend or not. CPD and its Principals Jonathan and Tony have shown great professionalism and enthusiasm and we look forward to working with them over the next 14 months as they deliver the scheme.”

Tony Dowie, Director of CPD, said:

“We’re delighted with the debt funding now being in place with Avamore. I have enjoyed a strong collaborative relationship with Nick Petkov and we are looking forward to working with Avamore’s support in seeing the construction through to completion.”