Dragonfly Property Finance has revealed that it completed a “highly complex” £1.5m deal for a British Virgin Islands-based borrower in 48 hours.
This followed the deal effectively dying mid-application.
The borrower, who first approached Dragonfly late morning on Thursday 3 March, was under intense pressure to extend the lease on a tenanted property in Marylebone, for which the landlord had set a court deadline of Monday 7 March.
Terms were sent out immediately and a full application and proof of identity promptly received. Within hours, both valuers and lawyer had been instructed and the valuation was completed by the end of the day.
As all parties were fully aware of the urgency of the situation, the valuation and Report on Title both arrived on Friday. While the valuation was satisfactory, the deal fell through when Dragonfly’s lawyers examined the title and found that the lease had been created in such a way that the landlord would not let the leaseholder sub-let the property for more than six months in a year.
However, on Dragonfly’s advice, the client’s lawyer negotiated with the landlord’s solicitor to circumvent this clause and, at the same time, overcome concerns about the wording of the legal opinion given the offshore status of the borrower.
By Monday morning, Dragonfly, with advice from its own lawyers on the title of the property and borrowing structure, had provided HTAR (higher than average risk) compliance sign-off and the funds — just under £1.5m — were issued to the client shortly after 11am on 7 March.
Matt Smith, director of risk at Dragonfly Property Finance, said: “This was textbook bridging finance. To arrange a £1.5m loan in two working days is an achievement in itself but to do so for an offshore borrower and also bring the deal back from the dead by renegotiating the terms of the lease, was pretty eye-opening by any standards. But highly challenging applications like this, when the clock is ticking and an extra layer of due diligence is required, are what bridging is all about and what differentiates it from term loans.
“It was extremely satisfying when the funds were released several hours before the court deadline.”