Kuflink Bridging has completed its first draw down loan for £1.2 million on a partially completed nursing home in Essex.

The first tranche of £200,000 was drawn in November 2017 with the conversion project likely to take seven months to complete.

The Kent based short term lender recognised that the common denominator in successful development transactions was the experience of the developers and the track record they have established.

Narinder Khattoare (pictured), group operations director at Kuflink Bridging, said the lender has been looking for opportunities to expand its offering to intermediaries and also provide more attractive opportunities for investors through its sister company Kuflink and its peer-to-peer platform.

He said: “We have been asked for some time whether we would consider development loans. Up to now, we have concentrated on straight short term commercial loans but after reviewing the market for this service, it was clear that if we worked with developers possessing the right knowhow and experience, we would be able to minimise risk and maximise the ability to respond quickly and decisively when enquiries reach us.

“For this loan we took a first charge over the property, which meant our investment was well covered at the outset. On completion of the renovations, our exposure will be less than 30% LTV. We were able to provide the funding quickly because of the experience and track record of the developers, and have offered this deal on our P2P platform investors.

“Kuflink Bridging has already funded the deal and investors in Kuflink’s platform not only have the security of a first charge against the property but also that Kuflink Bridging holds the first 20% of the investment itself. All in all, this is a great result for the developers and for our investors.”