Property Bridges inks €100m funding line
Property Bridges has secured a €100m (£85.2m) funding line from Nordic bank Aros Kapital.
The Irish peer-to-peer property lending platform said that the funds will be deployed over the next 18 months to construct homes nationwide.
Property Bridges said it will offer loans of between €1m to €10m to support the purpose-built residential sector, funding housing developments between 10 to 100 units, primarily those with a social housing element.
Over the last 12 months, Aros has lent over €350m in the UK through similar partnership models, including a deal with UK P2P platform Assetz Capital last year.
Experienced developers can apply for funding through Property Bridge’s website today.
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“We spent a lot of time trying to find a partner that can help us to grow with our clients while maintaining the speed and flexibility of our finance offering,” said David Jelly, chief executive at Property Bridges.
“The funding from Aros Kapital allows us to do that. The new funding line will be used to fund housing developments between 10 – 100 units. On larger developments, Property Bridges will look for the developments to be phased and for developers to demonstrate a viable exit route.
“Our lending managers work closely with developers on structuring their proposals into a format that will work for all parties. Pre-sales or a social housing contract further strengthens a development proposal and that would be factored into the overall rate of interest.
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“Property Bridges will lend up to 85 per cent of the project cost which is generally higher than what’s offered by the banks.
“The housing for all strategy is set to be the most ambitious housing plan for a generation. With 310,000 new homes to be built before 2030 a huge amount of capital will be required to deliver those units.
“Lending from tier-one lenders remains constrained due to heavy regulation and a lack of appetite for development risk. As such alternative lenders will continue to be used as a means to bridge the funding gap that continues to be an issue for the construction industry.”
Gustav Rocklinger, chief executive of Aros Kapital, said that it sees Ireland as one of the most attractive markets in the EU, with “encouraging housing policy and positive demographic factors”.
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EY was appointed as the sole financial adviser to run the transaction for Property Bridges.
‘’We are thrilled to have supported the team at Property Bridges on such an important capital raise for the business,” said Stuart Mogg, an associate partner in the EY FS corporate finance team.
“The transaction has a positive environmental, social, and governance impact on the Irish property market which is something I am very proud to have supported. It has been a pleasure working with David along with the rest of the Property Bridges team. We look forward to working with them again in the near future.‘’