Hospitality was amongst the most heavily impacted industries by the Coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns. Drenagh Country Estate in Northern Ireland, a specialist wedding and conference venue, faced a year with little income due to the reduced size, postponement and cancellation of many events.  Like many businesses, this left it with overheads mounting but no income. Fiduciam granted it a Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) facility to substantially lower its financing costs during this difficult period.  Fiduciam granted approximately £200 million in CBILS loans during the pandemic, making a significant and lasting difference to many UK SMEs.

Fiduciam provided working capital to a Luxembourg-owned vineyard in France.  The vineyard produces a biodynamic wine, which is also available from Waitrose in the UK.  The three-year loan was structured as a multi-drawdown facility of €3m with an initial drawdown of €750,000.  Fiduciam took a charge over the vineyard, but in addition it also took security over 77,422 bottles of wine and 2,631 hectolitres of wine in barrels.  The loan was taken out by a Luxembourg company, principally owned by a high net worth individual from the United States.  Due to the international nature of the business the loan involved five jurisdictions in total: the borrower in Luxembourg, the vineyard in France, the guarantor in the US, a pledgor from Australia, and Fiduciam based in the UK.

Fiduciam provided a bridging loan to a successful British entrepreneur who has been developing luxury property in Mallorca for over two decades.  The bridging loan allowed him to extract equity out of a newly completed project whilst marketing the property to potential purchasers.  The loan proceeds allow the British developer to finance three ongoing projects in Mallorca: the construction of a hotel and seven adjoining luxury villas, the construction of several rural cottages and the development of a further four detached houses.  Although the developer has access to development finance from Spanish banks, they were unable to offer as favourable terms and as quickly as Fiduciam.

Fiduciam granted a €1.3 million, three-year commercial loan to Hatton Farm in the Republic of Ireland. Hatton Farm is one of Ireland’s leading potato producers and is also a major Christmas tree grower. Like many other Irish farms, Hatton Farm was really let down badly by the traditional banks following the financial crisis. Marina Hatton commented: “Fiduciam believed in us when the big banks were simply not there anymore. This farm has been in our family for three generations and it’s thanks to the Fiduciam loan that we can grow our business and secure our children’s future.”  As a sign of gratitude, Hatton Farm offered Fiduciam one of its home-grown Christmas trees for the festive season. Two employees went over to chop down the tree and carry it home. Watch what happened next here.

Following the take-over and recapitalization of TVR by a group of successful British entrepreneurs, the development of a new high-performance car was commenced in close cooperation with Gordon Murray Design. Fiduciam provided the cornerstone of the second capitalization round, closely working together with the Welsh government and equity investors, in order to finance a new production facility in South Wales, a project representing £30 million of capital expenditure and creating 150 direct jobs and many more in the supply chain. This transaction demonstrates Fiduciam’s ability to successfully complete ambitious transactions.

Unlike large housebuilders, smaller development and construction firms often find it challenging to obtain finance.  Fiduciam funds many of these smaller firms.  One of the firms that has developed a strong working relationship with Fiduciam is run by a husband-and-wife team based in East London.  Their testimonial: “We got to know Fiduciam when our bank was dragging its feet over a new acquisition, for no apparent reason, and we decided to diversify funding sources.  Since then, we have been doing all our projects with Fiduciam as they have proven to be efficient and understand the construction trade; also allowing us to extract equity without any red tape when we need it for the next project.”

Bladon Jets is a Coventry-based company pioneer and manufacturer of world-leading micro turbines – small, light and clean-burning engines. Although originally intended as range extenders for electric cars, they have now been adapted to replace the diesel engines that power telecom mast towers. A private venture capital investor decided to participate in a Bladon Jets capital raise and instead of disposing of other assets, he chose to obtain a Fiduciam loan secured on an exclusive Sussex seafront property. This loan gave the investor the flexibility to inject capital into Bladon jets whilst waiting for divestment proceeds to materialize. Read about it:  The Telegraph

An important and family-owned landlord, focused on affordable property for key-workers in London, uses Fiduciam to finance new property acquisitions and portfolio reallocations.  As with other property investors he uses a mix of traditional commercial bank loans and buy-to-let loans, complimented by Fiduciam’s Standard Rental Loans.  When acquiring new property, the high-street banks usually cannot meet time deadlines or simply wish to hold off until a rental track record has been established.  Fiduciam is a constant provider of funding on new acquisitions for this successful landlord as he continues to build out his portfolio.

A specialist provider of dementia care had run into problems with its bank after an expansion of its business did not go to plan.  A newly opened care home had been graded as “inadequate” by the Care Quality Commission, which had prompted the bank to call in its loan facilities.  Fiduciam and the care home group worked closely together on a relay facility, allowing the care home group to repay its bank whilst executing a corporate restructuring that would enable it to tap into bank finance once again.  This restructuring plan had to be delivered around the needs of the nursing home patients.  Fiduciam was actively involved in the restructuring, which was completed successfully. The care home group refinanced with a high street bank one year later.

Fiduciam provided Hustyns Resort in Cornwall with a £1.2 million loan to invest in the hotel, including a restaurant refurbishment and glamping offering.  These additions helped further diversify the resort’s offering, as well as maximise income during the peak summer months.  The principal is an experienced hotelier and has operated a series of hotels in both the United Kingdom and the United States.  The two-year facility allowed time for accounts to be established before the borrower refinanced onto a term product with a commercial lender.  Ravi Gupta of Hustyns Resort commented: “The loan from Fiduciam means that we can not only weather this latest lockdown, but we can make the investments we want into our resort and know that our business’s future is secure.”

Fiduciam provided a prominent UK real estate investor with a £5m loan to complete a complex transaction involving the purchase of 32 residential apartments and the simultaneous sale of a six-unit development plot contained within the title.  Individual leaseholds were granted by the vendor before transferring the freehold title.  While the borrower was able to secure buy-to-let mortgages on seven leasehold units, they required Fiduciam’s assistance to complete the acquisition of the 25 other units within the mandated timescale.  The loan was underwritten on the basis of 70% of the breakup value, 85% of block value and 85% of acquisition cost.  The facility was structured to allow for the refurbishment of the flats during the term.

Housebuilders can improve profitability by employing their equity more efficiently and avoiding development pauses whilst units are sold.  Fiduciam routinely works with housebuilders to accelerate the development cycle and recycle capital into new schemes.  This can be achieved through a hybrid facility covering multiple schemes or by structuring development facilities to include an equity release on practical completion.  Fiduciam provided a £1.6m hybrid development loan to purchase a site in Tooting for the development of five dwellings.  Fiduciam increased the initial loan amount to fully cover the acquisition costs of the site by releasing equity from the borrower’s newly completed scheme in West Norwood, which had also been financed through a Fiduciam facility.

Fiduciam granted a £5m loan for the ground up development of 38 flats in Manchester.  The loan was structured to overcome the challenges posed by the complex property title and overage agreement, and to reduce the likelihood of cashflow squeezes during the development project.  The borrower’s testimonial: “There were complicated elements to this site which had initially proved problematic for the development financing, also owing to the rigidity of the large banks.  Then Covid came along, disrupting supply chains.  Fiduciam worked closely with us to put in place a facility that alleviated cashflow pressures exacerbated by the pandemic.  Fiduciam could see this would be a profitable development, so they went out of their way to overcome the complications and to find solutions.”

Fiduciam provided a £3.2m development facility for a custom-build homes scheme in south London.  The challenge was to provide the developer with a flexible funding solution that could accommodate the variety of end products potential purchasers might desire.  A structure was agreed that enabled the client to pull down funding as required, covering all options from shell sale to fully fitting out the houses.  This fit-for-purpose funding offered the developer the flexibility to find the most profitable sale options.  The borrower’s testimonial: “Fiduciam worked closely with us to provide a flexible funding solution that not only let us manage the development in the way that we felt was important, but also in the way that our homebuyers wanted.”

Fiduciam granted a repeat borrower a £4.3 million conversion facility at 70% loan-to-value to transform the seven-storey Britannia Warehouse in Gloucester from office into an apartment building.  The development budget, including interest costs, is fully funded by the facility.  Works will be monitored by one of Fiduciam’s trusted project monitors, with development costs being paid through monthly loan drawdowns.  The facility benefits from generous contingency and completion deadline terms to provide sufficient flexibility to manage the repercussions of the global supply chain crisis.  Once the conversion is completed the property will comprise 38 apartments, further enhancing the appeal of Gloucester’s historic docks.