The client was introduced to our London West End branch by Marc Champ of Wharf Financial, a broker who we have a long standing relationship with, and because of this Marc knew we’d be a great fit. Marc’s client wanted to bank with a provider that offered a long-term relationship approach and a sustainable finance offering.
With a residential and commercial property portfolio worth nearly £30m, the customer was looking for a debt finance package totalling £12.85m to refinance its facilities with two banks. Prior to being introduced to Handelsbanken, the customer had renovated its retail and office space in Berwick Street, Soho to an EPC B rating. However, shortly after completing the renovation, Covid hit which caused delays with letting the building and achieving a sustainable cash flow. We discussed how we could help them to achieve an affordable refinance across its whole portfolio, centred around our discounted sustainable loan for its Soho property.
A team effort
The challenge for us was demonstrating a clear track record of affordability, given that the take up of the new Soho office space had been slow after Covid. This is where our relationship with customer and broker really came into its own. Having built trust with the customer, coupled with our broker relationship, we were able to work with a network of people to get a better picture of affordability, including the customer’s accountant and property agents, to really understand the business.
Our close working relationship made it possible to navigate the challenges of this case. Between Handelsbanken colleagues, the broker and customer we worked as a team. If a broker relationship works well, they should feel like an extension of the team which, was the case with Marc.
It's just the start…
Impressed with how we’ve helped so far, we’re now working on executing an additional £5.35m loan against other properties. We are now discussing how we might be able to support the customer transition more assets to EPC A or B.