Specialist bridging lender, Aspen, has completed a £1.9m Bridge To Let facility on a prime Central London apartment owned through a Singapore corporate structure, overcoming a number of cross-border legal and underwriting complexities.
The transaction involved a high-end two-bedroom, third-floor apartment overlooking Berkeley Square in Mayfair, with the overseas borrower requiring funds to redeem an existing £1.5m facility while releasing additional capital for business purposes.
The key challenge was navigating the Singapore-based corporate structure and the associated legal requirements surrounding document provision and signatory execution via international notaries. Aspen worked closely with solicitors in both jurisdictions to keep the transaction on track.
Aspen also used its No Valuation product to further streamline the process and meet the client’s timescales, visiting the property on a Saturday to undertake an in-house valuation.
The bridge was finalised on a flat rate of 0.74% per month over eight months, and allows the borrower to optionally transition, using the same facility documentation, onto a serviced BTL period at 6.99% per annum over two years.
In line with the lender’s one-person-per-case customer service commitment, the application was taken from start to finish by underwriting manager Richard Tweddell.
Tweddell said trophy assets such as this continue to draw international buyers, though the structures behind them add complexity. “Trophy assets like this Berkeley Square apartment continue to attract international investors, but transactions involving overseas corporate structures often require careful coordination between lenders, solicitors and advisers across multiple jurisdictions,” he said.
“With extensive experience in dealing with overseas clients, we were able to deliver complex cross-border refinancing efficiently and release capital for the client to redeploy where it was needed most.”
Aspen’s Bridge To Let product combines the speed and work funding of a bridge with the flexibility and certainty of a BTL. Applicants can opt for a bridge or development loan of up to 24 months, followed seamlessly by a BTL period that can run for up to three years. The product supports residential, semi-commercial and commercial projects for UK and foreign nationals on properties across England and Wales.
Flat rates start at 0.69% and stepped rates from 0.35%, followed by a serviced buy-to-let period at 6.89% per annum. The maximum loan size is £15m, with LTVs of up to 80%.
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