The client needed to refinance a loan that had expired with his high-street bank, and also required additional funding in order to refurbish and upgrade the building during the lockdown.

Out of the total £1.8m loan, £1.5m will be used to refinance the existing debt, while the remaining £300,000 will go towards the refurbishment of the property.

This will allow the borrower to implement a number of Covid-compliant changes, such as implementing a one-way system to make it safer for guests to move around the hotel, and a new pre-packed breakfast service to minimise guest interaction and ensure that food preparation risk is minimised.

The loan was agreed on a two-year term, and all the interest costs for the first 12 months, as well as all valuation arrangement and legal fees, were paid for by the government-backed funding scheme.

The borrower was legally represented by Anthony Lancaster at Lancaster Solicitors, while Anthony MacPherson at Kingsley Napley handled the legal work for Ortus.

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According to Rangewell, technology and automation played a major part in the ability to close the transaction on time, due to all parties working remotely. 

From the first point of contact with the borrower, Rangewell’s APIs into Companies House and the Credit Agencies; as well as its automated fact-find technology, provided clear insight into the client and their requirements. 

Rangewell’s Rapid Algorithmic Matching Platform (RAMP) technology also quickly identified a list of 17 lenders that were willing to provide finance to the borrower.

Following this, Vinod Sherigar, director of funding at Rangewell (pictured above), narrowed the selection down to six lenders, including three that were willing to offer 12-month CBILS loans.

Vinod said: "We selected Ortus due to its long-standing reputation for having the most in-depth knowledge of the hospitality and leisure sector, its immediate access to on-balance sheet funds, and its technical and legal expertise, as this was a complex transaction."

The brokerage also used its online data and documentation portal to collate, share and update documentation and outstanding issues to reduce the friction and delays common in complex property transactions.

Jamie Russell, business development manager at Ortus, commented: “Rangewell’s platform generates a digital fact-find which means we can sense-check their proposals quickly and efficiently.  

“Furthermore, having the data and documentation updated in real-time and easily accessible throughout the underwriting and due diligence sped up the process of completing and drawing down the loan.”

Vinod added: “We actually transacted on seven deals during the Christmas period, but the way that technology made the due diligence and completion process almost seamless in a complex property refinancing should provide great encouragement to the whole industry that technology and automation really will allow complex deals to continue to draw down in what looks like will be a challenging 2021.”