Silbury Finance has provided a £39m senior loan to Stonegate Homes to fund the acquisition of a 20-acre brownfield site in Dorking, Surrey.
The residential developer has secured planning to develop an initial 226 homes for sale on the site. The 12-month facility provided by the Oaktree Capital Management-backed development lender, at 90% loan to cost, is the second loan Silbury has provided Stonegate Homes and was completed in just 15 working days, after another lender failed to complete on the purchase.
In addition to converting a former office building owned by Aviva Investors into 225 homes under permitted development, Stonegate has also submitted planning for an additional 41 townhouses, a large retirement living development and 8,000 sq ft of commercial space.
Gavin Eustace, founding partner at Silbury Finance, said: “The impact of the current macro volatility and higher interest rates isn’t confined to sponsors, with lenders increasingly being forced to withdraw or retrench from the market. This presents an opportunity for highly experienced and nimble lenders with funding certainty like ourselves, to step in and partner with credible real estate developers, with the secured pipelines to continue bringing forward much needed residential-led schemes across the UK. Working with repeat borrowers is central to our strategy and we are excited about extending our relationship with Stonegate Homes as we target £1bn of lending by the end of 2023.”
Jerry Hinds, managing director of Stonegate Homes, added: “I am delighted to have worked alongside Gavin and the wider Silbury Finance team to complete on the unconditional acquisition of Pixham Mills, a prime 35 acre site in the heart of the Surrey Hills. This is our largest unconditional purchase to date and I cannot thank the Silbury team enough for all their hard work in concluding this in such a short period of time, in what are hugely challenging financial times. We look forward to a continued working relationship on this site as well as other exciting projects moving forward.”
