United Trust Bank has provided an £8.5 million commercial sales bridge facility to support the refinancing of a care home development site in West London, with the completed project expected to achieve a gross development value of £65 million.
The 12-month facility was arranged by Martin Cameron, business development director at United Trust Bank’s Structured Property Finance division, working with broker Neil King of Darkwood Commercial Finance on behalf of borrower Duncan Thomson.
Thomson leads a special purpose vehicle comprising a consortium of real estate investors who acquired an ageing commercial property and subsequently secured planning consent for an 85-bed care home redevelopment.
Transaction structure
The funding enabled the SPV to refinance existing senior and mezzanine debt, provide capital for vacant possession through the surrender of remaining commercial leases, and allow time to prepare the asset for sale or forward funding.
The project has attracted interest from a care home operator considering a long lease on the completed development. The redevelopment has an estimated turnkey GDV of £49.1 million, with a potential stabilised value exceeding £65 million.
The transaction reflects activity in the healthcare real estate sector, where specialist finance solutions are increasingly used to bridge conventional funding gaps. This follows recent developments in specialist lending across various property sectors.
Market context
“This funding provided us with the flexibility and certainty we needed to move the project forward,” Thomson said. “UTB understood both the complexity of the transaction and our longer-term objectives, working closely with us to deliver a solution that allowed us to complete the remaining lease surrenders and prepare the site for its next phase.”
Cameron noted that the transaction demonstrates demand for specialist funding in the healthcare real estate sector. “By understanding both the asset and the borrowers’ exit strategy, we were able to structure a facility that met their needs and provided the flexibility required to maximise the value of the scheme,” he said.
The care home sector has seen continued investor interest as demand for elderly care accommodation grows. The West London development is positioned to add to the supply of modern care facilities in the region, where new-build property values have shown varied performance across different asset classes.
The facility represents a typical structured finance solution for development projects requiring interim capital while preparing for forward funding or sale arrangements.
