New bridging lender Albatross Capital launches during Covid-19 crisis
By Beth FisherSpecialist lender Albatross Capital has launched in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis to offer a variety of finance solutions to the market
Section: Products
The finance provider will be utilising private money from the founder and former CEO of bedroom furniture company Dreams, Mike Clare, who acts as chairman of Albatross Capital.
Mika Clare, chairman at Albatross Capital
The lender — headed up by co-founders and principals Lewis Casserley (pictured top, right) and Jordan Fearnley Brown (left) — offers bridging, VAT bridging, auction, finish and exit, and refurb finance, and plans to launch its development finance offering in 2021.
Jordan Fearnley Brown and Lewis Casserley of Albatross Capital
Lewis and Jordan have been lending through Edgarley Finance since mid-2018, which they have said gave them a foothold in the market, but with hopes to become a household name in the bridging sector, Albatross will be its primary focus moving forward.
They noted that they would continue to work with existing and pipeline customers of Edgarley Finance.
When asked about the timing of the launch, Jordan told B&C that it was intending to announce the rebrand within the first and second quarter anyway and decided to speed the process up.
Lewis explained that, during this time, it is seeing brokers desperately trying to keep their businesses alive and provide the finance that they should be able to offer their clients.
“…The whole point of bridging finance, and the whole point of being able to charge what we charge, is because our customers can’t get more mainstream finance,” he stated.
“So, in a market where that is absolutely the case, it’s specialist lenders, like ourselves, that need to be able to stand up, do what we do, assess deals on their own merits and, ultimately, carry on lending money.”
Currently, Albatross Capital’s product sheet includes:
- up to 70% LTV
- loan amounts between £100,000 and £1m
- residential or mixed-use property for security
- rates from 0.79% (although it expects its average rate across its book to be around 0.85% pm at the moment)
- terms of between three and 18 months
When things get back to normal, its terms will differ as follows:
- up to 75% LTV
- maximum loan amount to increase to £1.5m
- may also look at commercial property
“The short term plan is to utilise [Mike’s] funds, and the funds that we are carrying over from Edgarley to Albatross, to get ourselves into a position — track record and loan book wise — where we have done enough to be able to be taken seriously by [a] big player in the senior debt market,” Lewis added.
By having a decent size business in a year’s time, it hopes to be a lot more attractive in terms of getting wholesale finance.
Keywords: albatross capital, bridging and commercial, bridging loan, commercial loan, specialist loan, specialist lender, bridging lender, commercial lender, mike clare, lewis casserley, jordan Fearnley brown, VAT bridging