Lenders combine to fund £33m affordable homes scheme in Worcester

By Bridging Loan Directory 21st April 2022

OakNorth Bank, the UK bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, Hilltop Credit Partners, the specialist funding partner for SME residential developers, and MCAP Global Finance (UK) LLP, the UK subsidiary of New York based Marathon Asset Management, have provided a £33M loan to Sherriff’s Gate Development Limited.

The facility will be used to develop 213 affordable newbuild apartments in Phase I of the Sherriff’s Gate Development in Worcester City Centre.

The planned development is a multi-phase, mixed-use scheme that will ultimately consist of 469 apartments, 40,000 sq. ft. of commercial and retail space, a 200-room hotel, several restaurants, 10-pin bowling lanes, a cinema, a gym, and nearly 1,000 new parking spaces.

The development is part of the Worcester City Masterplan, which calls for the delivery of over 3,000 new homes; nine new parks, squares and public spaces; 8,600 new jobs; 14km of new cycle infrastructure; and the restoration of eight historic buildings.

The development team will be led by Stennard Harrison, Jr., CEO of Sherriff’s Gate Limited, who has 30 years of construction and development experience in the Worcester market.

Led by a highly successful team with 360-degree sector experience in real estate development, Hilltop is a real estate development lending platform founded by Paul Oberschneider, who has more than 25 years of experience in property development and asset management.

Backed by Round Hill Capital, a leading global real estate investment firm with a focus on macro-driven residential real estate investment strategies, Hilltop Credit Partners aims to help developers who know their local markets but need access to tailored financing solutions to fund their projects.

Hilltop’s management team have experience across real estate development, asset management, credit, banking, legal, tax and fund operations.

Over the past three decades, the team has underwritten residential and commercial deals across Europe and the UK, including the origination, syndication, and re-structuring of c. $15bn in loan portfolios.

Paul Oberschneider, Founder and CEO of Hilltop Credit Partners, said:

“Over the past two years, Hilltop has been an active player in the UK development lending market, supporting SME residential developers and providing funding for new homes across the UK.

Our partnership with Marathon, one of the world’s leading institutional credit managers, will allow us to fund larger developments with whole loans of up to c. £100m.

Having secured a loan-on-loan facility from OakNorth Bank back in 2019, we knew they’d be the right funding partner for this transaction – the team is collaborative, commercial, and entrepreneurial.”

Mohith Sondhi, Senior Director of Debt Finance at OakNorth Bank, continued:

“We are pleased to be continuing our long-standing relationship with Hilltop Credit Partners to provide senior financing for Sherriff’s Gate, which will provide affordably priced housing in the historic West Midlands city of Worcester, delivered by an experienced local developer.

We look forward to working on additional transactions with the Hilltop team.”