The loan redemption which took the lender over the £150m mark was its largest refurb deal to date, a £7.9m office-to-residential conversion project in Camberley.

Avamore worked closely with the borrower, particularly through the challenges of 2020, and has further plans to continue working together.

The specialist lender believes its solution-driven approach, combined with being flexible around real-life scenarios while maintaining rigorous credit standards has led to a strong loan book and successful redemptions across all of its transactions.

Of the loans which have been redeemed, Avamore has seen repeat business from numerous borrowers and brokers; in 2020, Avamore closed £13m worth of deals with the same borrower.

The news follows the announcement earlier this year that Avamore had surpassed £250m of total lending.

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“Achieving £150m of redemptions is a hugely important milestone to be acknowledging,” said Amit Majithia, principal at Avamore (pictured above). 

“The fact that we have done this without any impairments to capital or interest is testament to both the considered approach our credit analysts and underwriters take to transactions and to the hard work of our asset management department who have successfully supported our borrowers in what has naturally been a challenging year for them. 

“It is always a thrill to know that being repaid on a loan is not only a redemption statistic for us, but it means that another one of our borrowers has successfully completed a scheme and has delivered more residential units to the market — and is hopefully preparing to start the process all over again with a new development.

“We have ambitious plans to continue growing our loan book over the course of the next three years, but will always strive to ensure that this is done prudently as this is a true reflection of the strength of our business.” 

The team recently adopted Shieldpay, an online payment platform which is helping to enhance services providing greater transparency and flexibility, to provide oversight on the movement of funds, allowing borrowers to better manage expectations.

In some instances, Avamore has been able to make payments directly to local authorities and service providers, easing the burden for the developer. 

Throughout 2020, its assset management team revised its operations so that it could continue projects throughout the Covid crisis, conducted virtual site visits and used its in-house expertise and judgement to provide efficient drawdowns.