OakNorth completes £20.5m development finance loan to Caridon Group

By Bridging Loan Directory 10th April 2018

OakNorth – the bank for entrepreneurs, for entrepreneurs has completed a debt finance deal of £20.5m to Caridon Group – an award-winning property company, which specialises in providing private-rented homes and social housing for tenants who may otherwise be homeless.

The finance will be used for the development of several hundred new residential units in Bristol. The site had planning permission for the development of 380 flats over two blocks, but following the loan from OakNorth, Caridon Group were able to enhance this to 629 flats across three blocks. The site currently operates as an office complex spanning c.250,000 sq. ft. It benefits from being located just 15 minutes from both Bristol airport and the town centre.

In a joint statement, Mario Carrozzo and Abbas Alidina, Directors at Caridon Group said:

“Bristol has seen a dramatic change over the last decade, supported by the fastest growing economy outside London, city centre regeneration, and a vibrant cultural scene that sees it regularly top polls of the most popular places to live. With the city’s population growing nearly four times faster than homes are being built, and much of the recent demand coming from London commuters looking further afield for suitable places to live, we seized the opportunity to fill this gap by providing hundreds of new homes.”

Deepesh Thakrar, Senior Debt Finance Director at OakNorth commented:

“Bristol is a prosperous city with national surveys and the media consistently ranking it as one of the best UK cities to live in. As such, average property prices are nearly 20 percent higher than the national average and have risen by approx. 50 percent over the last decade. While this is an ambitious project for the Caridon Group given that it is larger than any of their previous developments, they have decades of experience and have successfully completed numerous similar projects in the past. We already have an existing relationship with the Group on other developments, so are delighted to be working with them to bring hundreds of much-needed new homes to Bristol.”

Nick Neophytou, Managing Director of Mantra Capital, said:

“We’re delighted to get this deal over the line for our friends at Caridon. This wasn’t a straight forward transaction, and OakNorth as usual were able to work with us to structure a bespoke funding solution tailored perfectly to Caridon’s requirements. Not many lenders would have been able to deliver this facility, or deliver it in this timeframe. Deepesh Thakrar and the whole OakNorth team were fantastic throughout.”