Aprao presents... Learning from lenders


In this series, we're in conversations with leading lenders across the property development space. You'll hear from our friends at United Trust Bank, Close Brothers, Davon, and many more.


With decades of experience and fresh takes on what's happening in the market, this series is not to be missed. 

Episode 1: United Trust Bank

"Our balance sheet of commitments is about a billion pounds for property development, which basically translates into supporting the development of about five and a half thousand new homes per annum across a range of clients."

Paul De Croos, Head of Origination


In this episode, Paul offers his insight into United Trust Bank’s process for evaluating development projects and provides some advice for developers looking to raise finance for their residential projects with the Bank.

Paul has himself spent 20 years working in banking, across multiple sectors, including both development finance and investment finance for large and medium-size housebuilders and private equity and institutional fund investors.


 

 

Episode 2: LendWell

"We can support both seasoned developers and what we like to call emerging developers."

Stephen Johnson, Partner


In this episode, we speak to Stephen Johnson, Partner at LendWell, who covers LendWell’s view of the current real estate market, how it is offering assistance to both experienced and emerging developers, and the kinds of projects LendWell is able to support.

LendWell is a specialist lender that covers both commercial and residential schemes,  offering Bridging Loans, Refurbishment Loans, Development Loans and Large Loans. Stephen is a chartered accountant by profession and has spent his career in specialist property lending as well as a proportion of it undertaking his own property developments and property investments.


 

Episode 3: Close Brothers

"At Close Brothers, you will generally find that when you get an account manager, you stick with them, they stay with you. Your relationship will remain with them throughout your life."

Daniel Joyce, Director


In this episode, we speak to Daniel Joyce, Director within the Property division at Close Brothers. Find out how Close Brothers makes allocations to support developers, often funding up to 85% of the cost of projects. Daniel takes us through the process Close Brothers undergoes when evaluating proposals, and why developers should come to Close Brothers due to their specialist, service-driven approach.

Close Brothers is a leading merchant banking group and are one of the largest 250 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Daniel has been on the Property board for around 6 years now, overseeing his own team and has the responsibility for lending to developer clients, from family businesses to SME housebuilders operating regionally.


Episode 4: Davon

"We really do believe funding can be quite straightforward."

David Norman, Director


In this episode, we speak to David Norman, the Founder of Davon, who provides a snapshot into the range of projects Davon funds, from multi-units to low-value apartments, through to high-value single units. Find out how Davon evaluates the viability of schemes, and the terms Davon issues to benefit developers.

Davon is a Mezzanine Finance Lender for Property Development projects. Davon are able to structure all forms of funding to include senior debt, mezzanine, equity and joint venture finance projects. David Norman has been the Director of Davon for the last 25 years. His previous experience prior to founding Davon came from working in his father’s family business, where David was directly involved in building property investment portfolio.


Episode 5: West One Loans

"I really wanted to bring the agility and speed that the bridging finance market has and bring it into development finance.”

Guy Murray, Head of Development Finance


In this episode, we speak to Guy Murray, the Head of Development Finance at West One Loans, who provides insight into the loan sizes that West One Loans offer for experienced developers.

Learn about why customers come to West One Loans over challenger banks and why it’s so important that developers send over structured development appraisals when seeking funding to avoid the common pitfalls when applying. West One Loans is a leading provider of specialist mortgages and property finance, trusted by homeowners, landlords and property investors to support their financial goals.

Guy started his career at West One Loans within the bridging finance team before setting up the Development Finance division over three years ago.


Episode 6: Hilltop Credit Partners

“We’re finding the North East is performing particularly well. We’ve got a few developments up there which have been delivered at higher GDVs than we were expecting.”

Adam Ware, Vice President, Head of Origination


In this episode, we speak to Adam Ware, Vice President, Head of Origination at Hilltop Credit Partners. Hilltop Credit Partners is a debt fund operating in the whole of the UK, with a focus is on easing the affordable housing crisis.

In this episode, Adam discusses what investment criteria Hilltop Credit Partners look for, and delves into why tech tools can help developers and lenders to evaluate schemes accurately. Adam has a strong track record in property lending, having personally structured over half a billion pounds of debt across thousands of transactions in development, bridging and investment.




 

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Episodes hit the podcast weekly from December 9th. Can’t wait for the podcast episodes to drop? Get your fix right here on the Aprao website! Enter your details and we’ll email you as soon as a new episode is live.

 

You can also listen on the Aprao Podcast 🎤