Tungsten properties

Fortwell Capital lends £23m for 290,000 sq ft industrial scheme development



Principal lender Fortwell Capital has provided Tungsten Properties with £23m of funding for the development of an industrial scheme in Witney, Oxfordshire.


The seven-unit project will be 290,000 sq ft in total, with two of the units, accounting for 147,000 sq ft, are already pre-let.

This loan represents the second tranche of a £50m revolving credit facility which was agreed in March this year.

This finance is being used for the industrial and warehouse developer’s £186m logistics development pipeline, amounting to 1.6 million sq ft of industrial space across the UK.

Over half of the facility has now been deployed and was started with an initial £4.4m tranche to fund a 40,000 sq ft, three-unit industrial logistics scheme in Essex.  

Nikos Yerolemou, associate director at Fortwell Capital, said: “Although the last few months have brought industry-wide uncertainty, we have remained committed to working with our existing borrowers to ensure progress can be made across their projects. 

“Tungsten Properties is well placed to navigate recent headwinds given that market demand for Grade A mid-box industrial space will only grow as a result of accelerated consumer shifts in retail.

“We expect take-up in the sector to remain strong and, with over 50% of the Witney scheme pre-let, are confident that it will succeed, especially given the shortage of high-quality warehouse space in the area.”

The lender specialises in complex, higher leverage and development-led opportunities and has lent over £1.4bn to developers and investors across a range of asset classes nationwide, since 2011.

Jeff Penman, managing director at Tungsten Properties, commented: “With Fortwell Capital as our funding partners, together we fundamentally believe that the logistics sector is the safest place right now for new property investment to build new space to meet demand and create jobs.

“The sector has proved its resilience through no change in rents or initial yields, despite the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“As a dynamic company that can quickly adapt to market conditions, we were fortunate in March to announce our £50m revolving credit facility through Fortwell Capital which has given us the firepower to increase the number of schemes we can handle, while remaining within sensible LTV ratios.”

Tungsten Properties has developed 116 completed units, totalling more than one million sq ft, with a GDV of over £112m.

It has grown from a developer of small industrial units in the East Midlands to developing on a national scale.



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