FINANCE: Pluto Finance has provided development funding for a Hertfordshire residential scheme.
The residential development lender has agreed its first loan since its recent £94m equity injection from a consortium of backers led by Blackstone.
Pluto has agreed to provide £17.2m to “an experienced local developer” to bring forward 53 houses and flats in Bushey, Hertfordshire. The loan is in the form of stretched senior residential development finance, combining senior and mezzanine debt.
It has been provided by Pluto Finance’s £360m stretched senior loan business, which earlier this month won the backing of Blackstone’s Tactical Opportunities fund, Clearbell Capital and three additional blue-chip investors.
The business launched with an initial £100m raised in May 2013. It provides developers with a single loan of up to 90% of the cost of the development, enabling developers to kick-start new projects and to spread their equity across a greater number of schemes.
The Bushey project, which has a gross development value of £26m, is located on the site of a derelict health centre. It will comprise 31 flats and 22 houses, totalling 65,500 sq ft.
Pluto chief executive Chris Philp said: “Our stretched senior business is finding good traction with residential developers, which continue to find it difficult to source adequate funding for their schemes.
“For Bushey, we were happy to complete the financing transaction quickly so as to enable our client to acquire the site and then move into the development phase straightaway.
“There is a shortage of good-value family housing in London and the South, and we are happy to provide the funding to increase the supply.”
bridget.oconnell@estatesgazette.com
