A FAMILY business at risk of losing an office block it had spent five years developing has thanked a Warrington Challenger Bank which stepped in to save the day.
Bionanovate Ltd, based in Poole, Dorset, was developing a site at Sandbanks but encountered problems when lending opportunities stalled because of the pandemic.
Managing director Paul Booker originally took out loans from Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) to buy and develop the site, with a view to refinancing with a different lender.
However, Covid-19 hit and many lenders retreated from the market, putting the project in jeopardy when the property was passed into receivership.
After enlisting the help of broker Steve Walker, from Promise Solutions, in September 2021, the race was on to refinance the project. In stepped Redwood Bank, which agreed a loan to repay Dorset LEP and to allow Paul and his family to regain control of the £3m property.
A loan of £1.95m was agreed at an LTV of 65% and the property, which is made up of commercial units and offices, was put on the market this year, receiving several offers.
Paul said after being turned down by several other lenders, the tenacity shown by Redwood was refreshing.
He said: “Redwood was the only bank which had the courage to help a family business adversely affected by COVID-19 after successfully trading for 20 years. It had the courage based upon its deep knowledge and experience of the market and its desire to ‘walk the talk’ of its company values. Its staff worked through, around or over obstacles.
Redwood really lived the value of treating people as they would like to be treated I felt like finally, I was in the right place and that Andre Parcian and Leon Marklew actively listened to us and understood our passion too.”
Andre, Redwood’s Head of Business Development, Midlands and Wales, said: “We treated this application as an investment loan. Passing rent was strong, there was a good tenant mix, and it met our key product criteria.
I really believed in the customer and wanted to support them. The information we received from the broker helped to support and structure the deal.”
Steve added: “This was a very complex case. Every other lender we approached came up with reasons why they couldn’t help. We were fortunate that Andre and colleagues at Redwood had the strong underwriting experience necessary to see through the problems and had the tenacity to walk the talk.
Redwood took the time to understand our circumstances and applied common sense underwriting and a hunger which is often lacking from some lenders and their business development managers.”
For further information, visit www.redwoodbank.co.uk
