Helping Clients Find Their Way Through The Specialist Finance Market

As the name implies, the specialist finance market is not an arena to enter without the highest level of knowledge and experience. Too many property investors find themselves paying higher finance costs than they should be, or worse still, in the incorrect type of finance when purchasing or refinancing their next property development project with no way to get out of the finance deal. It is critical that anyone looking at this type of finance should have the correct finance broker in their corner, which is where Prospero Finance are making a name for themselves, both with clients and lenders.

The business was started in 2016 by Martin Smedley, a finance broker with over 30 years’ experience and James Relph, owner of a wealth management business, with an idea to provide mutual

services to their wealth management clients, whilst looking to establish a name in the property development arena. The team at Prospero Finance very quickly built a reputation for helping their clients achieve the most suitable type of finance for their project, which has helped them become preferred partners with a number of lenders, in particular the more specialist lenders.

The specialist bridging finance team at Prospero Finance are able to arrange some of the best value, bespoke bridging facilities in the market. In addition, they are able to arrange the exit on the bridging loan where required, often on bespoke terms not widely offered throughout the market, giving their clients the peace of mind of having an exit option set up prior to completion.

Prospero Finance completed their largest loan to date in 2019 when helping an experienced team of property developers exit a £7M finance facility after they had overrun on the build, thereby exceeding the term of the original finance which saw their interest charges rise. The exit facility arranged managed to significantly reduce the cost of borrowing on the facility whilst also raising additional funding to allow the developers to complete the project.

Their expertise also helped another client receive 100% funding to acquire a mixed use commercial property with a plan to convert the whole building to self-contained residential flats. The bridging loan was completed by taking additional security on another residential property to give the customer 100% funding for the purchase. The bridging finance was over a 12 month term and the exit will be development finance to convert the property into flats. Even more extraordinary was the speed this deal was put together by the team, from initial enquiry to final completion and funds received from the lender in just 14 days.

One of their latest deals saw an investor remortgage two existing properties, both valued at over £2M in order to raise equity to allow them to convert an old assembly hall into flats. Both of the existing mortgages were already with a specialist lender who would only deal with a broker that had the appropriate level of expertise to ensure the deals completed quickly. This extra requirement by the lender caused no issues as the team could demonstrate quite quickly the relevant level of knowledge and experience.

The relationships that they develop with their clients means that they are now seen as the ‘go to’ broker of choice when clients require specialised finance. This ongoing relationship was highlighted further when an existing client, fresh from receiving 100% funding by using additional security to acquire a mixed use commercial property with a plan to convert the whole building to self-contained residential flats has now returned with an even bigger project that requires finance to build 72 homes.

Although the bridging and development finance is a large part of their business focus, Prospero Finance can also help clients with Buy to Let, House of Multiple Occupancy (HMO’s) and residential mortgages.

If you wish to find out more about how Prospero Finance could help you obtain the correct structure for your next development or purchase finance, please contact enquiries@prosperofinance.co.uk