Adapt Finance

Adapt arranges its largest facility to date



Specialist broker Adapt Finance has successfully arranged its largest-ever facility totaling more than £21m for an office-to-residential conversion scheme in the center of Royal Tunbridge Wells.


Contracts were exchanged for the purchase of a 100,000 sq ft building – including a fully let retail lower floor and three upper floors of serviced offices – late last year, with a completion of mid-March.

External image
External image

In the interim, the client needed to obtain PDR planning consent to convert the upper floors into residential to make the intended facility work.

Three lenders were involved in the project: Octane for the commercial acquisition, Titlestone for the potential residential development and an equity fund.

However, when the largest tenant on the income-producing lower floor unexpectedly exercised its option to vacate, it left a significant loss of income, leading to a reassessment by Octane Capital.

Fortunately, Octane Capital decided that this would not affect the loan and provided £3.6m for a 12-month term.

The upper floors are set to be converted into 80 luxury apartments and will be facilitated by a £17.5m loan from Titlestone for an 18-month term.

The loans from both Titlestone and Octane were at 65% LTV.

Matt Smith, director of risk at Octane Capital, commented: “If you have a borrower that ticks the right boxes, a lender that’s prepared to be flexible and an introducer [which is] on top of [its] game, anything is possible.

“We are as hungry as ever to lend and this kind of deal is right in our sweet spot."

Jordan McBriar at Adapt said: “Aside from the obvious thanks to the lenders [which] transacted this alongside us, a huge thank you should also be said to the professional teams involved, who tirelessly worked to make this happen, too.”

The client added: “This project is a flagship statement for our business and we want to thank Adapt and the lenders who have helped us to achieve this.”

 



Leave a comment