Following an internal review of credit appetite, and a decision to reduce the range of their geographic footprint within the UK, the incumbent bank served notice that they did not wish to renew the facility on expiry of the existing commitment term.

Account conduct, and debt servicing, had been exemplary and the client had not anticipated a change in appetite but made enquiries about a possible refinance with other lenders who, for various reasons, were unable to assist.

The client then made contact with SPF and we were able to fully understand the wider background to the transaction from which it was evident that there were a number of complexities including the underlying ownership structure, the listed nature of the building and the short term WAULT which would clearly have excluded a number of banks, both offshore and onshore, as potential funders.

That said, one of the USPs of SPF is the strength of our relationships across an extensive lender network and we were able to identify a suitable bank and arrange funding which included the following features –

· Inclusion of the arrangement fee within the facility;

· A 5 year commitment term;

· An interest only facility which included an ability to make capital repayments of up to 10% of the outstanding balance, without penalty, in any 12 month period;

· No personal or trustee recourse.

Last year, SPF as a group arranged funding through more than 150 different lenders – offshore, onshore and further afield.