Pluto raises £500m for residential development lending

UK-based specialist lender Pluto Finance has raised more than £500 million of institutional capital for its residential development finance strategies.

The firm announced that the capital will be deployed across new senior debt and bridging lending strategies, as well as to relaunch its stretch senior lending at what it said would be “significantly lower” interest rates.

Pluto said that it is aiming to lend £500 million across the three strategies in the next year, with £95 million of lending credit-approved since the capital raise. The firm has also hired four new staff for its lending team.

Pluto, which has been lending since 2011, is targeting stretch senior loans of between £5 million and £50 million, up to 90 percent of costs and loan-to-value of up to 80 percent. Senior development loans are targeted between £3 million and £30 million at 70 percent LTC and 60 percent LTV. Bridge loans, which cover the pre-planning period, are for between £1 million and £10 million and can go to 75 percent of current use value.

“This significant capital raise provides Pluto with the firepower to continue providing market leading loans. We are now able to provide lower leverage senior debt with interest rates from 3.95 percent – cheaper than the challenger banks, and competitive with the clearing banks but with a much faster turnaround time,” said Pluto partner Justin Faiz.

“We are delighted to be able to support our clients throughout the entire project lifecycle by providing short term loans to assist with site acquisition pre-planning and also to refinance completed units,” added Andrew Blenkinsop, also a partner with the firm.