The first facility was a £17.75m five-year investment loan — agreed at 57.5% LTV — from an insurance-backed lender on behalf of a private family office.

The borrower required the funds to refinance a £14m development loan for a mixed-use 24-unit residential and 21,000 sq ft speculative office scheme in Southwark, London, which reached practical completion in Q3 2020.

“This financing was challenging as the residential units let up within three weeks of practical completion, however the office launch was delayed due to Covid,” said Steve Oliver, chief operations officer at Peritus Corporate Finance.

“We were delighted to work with the lender which took time to understand the underlying quality of the asset and provide a facility which can support the let-up strategy and long-term hold for the customer who has owned the property for over 30 years.”  

The second deal was a £60m senior debt development facility on behalf of Aver Property.

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It is being provided by Bentall GreenOak and will be used to fund the development of logistics warehouse units totalling approximately 1.1 million sq ft with a GDV in excess of £100m across four sites in Oldham, Sheffield, Fradley and Middlewich on a speculative basis. 

The loan will help Aver Property — a joint venture between ERGO Real Estate and NFU Mutual — drive forward its strategy into this sector and follows on from its developments in Bicester and Markham Vale.

David Shaw, consultant at Peritus Corporate Finance, commented: “We were delighted to assist with this financing and strengthen a longstanding relationship with the borrower which goes back over 20 years.”

Martin Jepson, founding partner of Ergo Real Estate, added: “We approached Peritus with a view to it delivering a solution to our funding needs. 

“The team worked closely with us to understand the transaction and build a list of potential lending counterparties that could deliver funding for our development strategy.”