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The Client’s Situation
A professional property investor approached Advocate Finance seeking commercial auction finance to purchase a portfolio of six fully let retail units split across three freehold titles, with 28 days to complete.
All 6 units were fully let making it an attractive investment. However, the client needed to secure finance across all properties within a very tight timescale, and a bridge-to-term exit would be needed.
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The Challenge
Financing multiple commercial units simultaneously can be a complex process.
Challenges included:
- Coordinating commercial valuations on six tenanted retail units.
- Working with a lender that recognised this has to complete within 28 days to secure fast commercial bridging.
- Structuring the borrowing efficiently across multiple units while keeping the overall costs manageable.
- Organising the bridge‑to‑term exit to be agreed upfront
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The client’s main concern was ensuring the lender could process the case quickly enough and offer favorable terms without requiring unnecessary delays or additional hurdles.
The client also wanted maximum leverage on an interest only basis to minimize their cash contribution to the deal / maximise the monthly cashflow being produced by the individual units.
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Our Solution
Due to the tight deadline, we recommended a commercial bridging loan for the auction completion, with a pre‑agreed commercial mortgage refinance to an interest‑only, 12‑year term – minimising time on the bridge and overall cost.
Advocate Finance collaborated with a specialist lender experienced in lending on commercial units within short time scales. We coordinated the application process to ensure all six properties were assessed together, streamlining the underwriting and valuation process.
Our team closely managed the communication between the client, lenders and solicitors – helping to keep the purchase on track within the required timeframe and ensuring the refinance completed as quickly as possible.
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The Result
Within three months the client refinanced at 70% LTV on a vacant possession valuation, helped by a valuation retype, lender internal solicitor, and title indemnity insurance to streamline legals.
The client purchased all 6 units within the timeframe and successfully refinanced onto a competitive 12-year interest only mortgage product – all within the space of 3 months.
By using Advocate Finance, they benefitted from:
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A lender that specialises in commercial bridging who had a valuer inspecting the properties within days of the application being submitted, and they also use a solicitor very experienced in dealing with commercial auction purchases which was vital to meet the deadline.
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A different, more competitive lender, who specialises in commercial mortgages that were able to accept a re-type on the valuation used for the bridging finance. Furthermore, for refinance applications they can also instruct their own internal solicitor who can utilise a title insurance indemnity policy to enhance the legal process. Both aspects saved the client a lot of time and money, which ultimately reduced the time spent on the bridging loan.
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The loan to value offered on both the purchase and refinance was 70% on the vacant possession valuation, which for the retail sector on an interest only basis is very competitive leverage in the current market.
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This deal highlights how the right financial structuring can make complex, large-scale purchases achievable while maximising investor returns and meeting as many of their financial requirements as possible.
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