Alternative Bridging Corporation and Clever Commercial Finance have completed a £2.6m loan to fund the purchase of a shopping centre in Lancashire.

The complicated loan had a number of issues to resolve including down-valuation, numerous leases and licenses, some of which had expired, and unilateral notices which needed to be removed. All of this against the need to complete the loan and the purchase within the contract period.

However, working closely with the broker, client and the lawyers, and by increasing the LTV, Alternative Bridging Corporation was able to overcome the complications and deliver a first charge loan that enabled the client to complete the purchase on time.

James Bloom (pictured), director at Alternative Bridging Corporation, said: “We were delighted to receive this enquiry from Marc Turner of Clever Commercial Finance, a member of the Synergy Network, who are a key partner of ours. During the process, both the introducer and client commented that most lenders would have given up, however, we have more than 30 years’ experience in the lending business which enabled us to overcome the many issues.”

Marc Turner, managing director at Clever Commercial Finance, added: “I approached James with a high value shopping centre enquiry. Based on the specialist nature of the property I recognised there may be reluctant, taking into account the impact of the pandemic on the retail sector.

“But James was very supportive, especially once he had completed his onboarding process with a Zoom call which provided Alternative Bridging with confidence that the applicants were very experienced in this sector, with similar properties already being successfully managed.

“James ensured all parties pulled together and Alternative Bridging’s attitude was definitely ‘let’s get this done’ and it worked. A massive thank you from the clients and me to all of the team for their excellent work and we look forward to completing more loans with Alternative Bridging in the near future.”