Hilco Real Estate Finance has completed a £4.5m bridging loan secured against Stonham Barns, a 130-acre holiday park in Suffolk.
The 24-month facility has enabled the borrower to consolidate existing debt and strengthen the business’ capital structure to support further expansion.
Located near Ipswich, Stonham Barns has been operating for more than a decade and offers over 400 pitches for lodges, static caravans and touring caravans. In addition to accommodation, the site features a range of leisure and retail amenities including a theatre, golf course, fishing lakes and a retail village.
The transaction drew on sector expertise across multiple parties. Valuation advice was provided by Christie & Co, legal due diligence was undertaken by Lawrence Stephens, and additional guidance came from Michael Clark, the former group sales and operations director at Parkdean Resorts.
Brad Altberger, chief executive of Hilco Real Estate Finance, said the loan demonstrated the lender’s capacity to underwrite complex deals in specialised segments of the real estate market. “As we continue to expand our offering, this loan is another example of our ability to lend across a wide variety of asset classes,” he said.
“The holiday park sector is a challenging subset of the wider real estate market, but at a time when both traditional and alternative lenders are retreating from this niche market, HREF was able to leverage the deep expertise of our team to quickly extend a credit facility that allowed the borrower to achieve its financing objectives. While other lenders continue to retrench, we aim to markedly increase our exposure to the sector.”
Max Lewis, chief investment officer at HREF, added: “Stonham Barns was a complicated and intricately structured loan featuring alternative real estate that is not widely understood. HREF has both the financial and human capital to execute such loans in short order and subject to our borrowers’ constrained timelines.
“Following the completion of the Stonham Barns loan, HREF continues to build its book and its presence in the bridging market.”
