The former CEO of the Association of Short Term Lenders (astl) has confirmed his involvement with a commercial property lender which is aiming to raise £250m of funding.

Relendex, the first ‘peer-to-peer lending exchange’ for commercial property loans, has taken on Adrian Bloomfield on an advisory basis, utilising his experience of the alternative lending market.

The lender has just announced that it has appointed Mirabaud Securities, one of Switzerland’s oldest and most well-regarded private banks, to raise up to £250 million from private and institutional lenders to invest in commercial property loans via its online exchange platform.

Adrian commented: “I am proud to be associated with Relendex and to offer strategic advice about the lending and banking type issues. I have been impressed with the professionalism and expertise of the management team and I am confident this will turn out to be a highly successful business, delivering an excellent service both to investors, lenders and to borrowers.”

Relendex was created to address an entrenched, two-fold problem: due to liquidity constraints, banks are increasingly unwilling or unable to provide finance against high-quality investment properties, whilst investors are unable to achieve significant returns from traditional asset classes.

Relendex matches investors seeking secured returns with borrowers seeking loans, giving lenders complete control as well as the opportunity to cherry-pick loan propositions.

Loan periods will initially be from three to five years and also offer liquidity as loan parts can be resold on the exchange.

Investors are able to take a share of fixed interest loans, from £500,000 to £25 million, secured on income-producing commercial properties.

Potential returns for investors range from five per cent to ten per cent for senior loans and from ten per cent to 17 per cent for mezzanine loans.

All loans are expertly originated, evaluated and monitored by the real estate arm of a leading international investment bank.

Relendex markets itself as a transparent lender as all loan documentation is fully disclosed, with valuations and title reports available for viewing in a secure virtual data room.

Michael Lynn, Chief Executive of Relendex, added: “Relendex was conceived to provide a simple solution to a major problem. With the banking sector all but moribund, property owners cannot satisfactorily refinance high quality real estate assets. Meanwhile, investors are becoming frustrated at the lack of returns on traditional investment and asset classes. We’re solving this by bringing lenders and borrowers directly together in an open, transparent and trustworthy online exchange.

“Essentially, we are enabling private and institutional investors to become bankers to keen borrowers, thus creating a virtuous circle of high quality capital. And we won’t stop there: our ambition is to become the eBay of commercial property lending.”

Rob Roscoe of Mirabaud’s Alternative Investments division said: “Relendex is a game changer: we believe that its disruptive technology could revolutionise commercial property lending. The company has a uniquely ingenious and robust business model, and clear and achievable growth plans which, we believe, could represent excellent returns for lenders.”