Hilco Real Estate Finance (HREF), a specialist bridge lender, had a record month in February with three deals totalling over £43.8m across the UK.
These transactions were secured against assets in Leeds, London, and Wakefield, supporting developers and entrepreneurs with portfolio exits or refinancing.
This follows a successful year for HREF, which deployed over £200m in 2024.
Max Lewis (pictured), chief investment officer at HREF, said: “A record month in Q1 on the back of such a strong maiden year is a great start to 2025 and speaks to the volume of good deals we are seeing with high quality assets to lend against, both in London and especially in regions right across the UK.”
The transactions included loans secured against a block of serviced apartments, a block of high-end residential apartments, an 83-unit residential development, and a 74-bed hotel.
Lewis said: “There is a very strong pipeline of £15m – £30m lending opportunities and as we grow our team in regions right across the UK, we aim to deploy over £300m of our own capital in 2025.
“Having certainty of our own funds is proving to be advantageous at a time when getting deals over the line against working assets that are intertwined with valuable businesses is a challenge for some of the established lending models.”
Jamie Jolly, who joined HREF in February to enhance growth and regional access, said: “The appetite for borrowing from a pragmatic lending partner, who can swiftly value assets and businesses together in sometimes unusual or complex structures, is clearly very strong above the £3m deal size.
“Market uncertainty globally, coupled with higher interest rates than a decade ago, have seen more urgent needs to leverage assets and borrow more as well.
“We are gearing up to be very responsive, and open to less straightforward deals, as long as the quality of the security stacks up.”
