Omni Capital provides £48m residential bridging loan

Christian Candy’s Omni Capital has provided a £48m bridging loan to fund the acquisition of a residential development site in Chelsea Harbour, west London.

The loan has been issued to the Hadley Property Group, which is backed by the multi-family office the LJ Group and private family office the Peterson Group. The site, known as Chelsea Island, has consent for 89 residential apartments and 11,000 sq ft of retail space. Work is expected to start before the end of the year. The 12 month loan reflects an 80% loan-to-value on the acquisition cost of the 1.16 acre site.

In March this year Omni launched a new ‘big-ticket’ lending division to provide loans of up to £250m with loan-to-values of above 100% based upon the future projected values of development and refurbishment projects.

A landmark deal for the firm came in January when it provided a £127.5m bridging loan to Northacre and Abu Dhabi Capital Management for the redevelopment of 1 Palace Street near Buckingham Palace into 78 luxury flats.

In April it also loaned Hampshire County Cricket Club £27.4m for the redevelopment of its Ageas Bowl stadium that will include a new 175-bed Hilton Hotel at a 100% loan-to-value.

Colin Sanders, chief executive of Omni Capital, said: “This was a rare opportunity to acquire a prime development site in the heart of Chelsea. Not all lenders would have been able to provide multimillion funding, at such a high loan-to-value, for an undeveloped site. We are pleased to have contributed to what will be a new waterside icon for Chelsea.”