Fiduciam expands bridge lending operations in rapid growth drive

03 April 2018

Bridging lender Fiduciam has kick started a rapid expansion drive and is on track to lend £150 million in 2018 up 200% from 2017. This continues a pattern of 100% year-on-year growth.

Having made six additions to its bridge lending team since the beginning of the year, Fiduciam is strengthening its business development capability by appointing Harry Hodell as a senior originator. Harry joins Fiduciam this week from Lendy Ltd., where he rapidly became a heavy hitter in the bridging industry as the first point of call for hundreds of mortgage brokers.

Fiduciam is also planning to hire a further fifteen industry professionals this year to enable it to satisfy growing market demand. It lends for a duration of up to three years with no exit fees, typically in the £500,000 to £10 million range but it can consider loans of up to £25 million. Fiduciam lends in the UK but also in Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain.

Fiduciam takes a different approach to many other bridging lenders, working with borrowers and their advisers to ensure that every loan results in a successfully completed project. With over £100 million lent, Fiduciam has a 0% default rate and is gaining a reputation for bringing a new way of working to bridging finance, sitting down with every borrower to look at what could possibly happen on a project and make sure there are no surprises for a borrower. If a project takes longer than expected then Fiduciam works with the borrower to ensure the project is successfully completed thereby avoiding default interest.

Fiduciam is backed by institutional funding and whilst 60% of its loan book is represented by traditional products such as buy-to-let, refurbishment and conversion loans, the other 40% comprises loans to SMEs for working capital, expansion and acquisition finance. Its integrated underwriting approach allows Fiduciam to react rapidly; in February it completed a £3.9million loan only ten business days after being approached.

Fiduciam works with a range of businesses and has seen increasing demand for its “business bridge” solutions in the manufacturing, healthcare, hospitality, agriculture and food industry sectors. It was also responsible for facilitating the launch of the new TVR sports car in September 2017, providing a funding line for both the factory and the development and manufacture of the car.

Johan Groothaert, director of Fiduciam commented: “Whilst having an advanced technology platform, our focus remains on traditional values such as understanding our borrowers and working closely with them to find the right solutions. Such an approach pays off both for the borrowers and ourselves and has resulted in our zero default rate to date. We are excited to now have someone of Harry’s calibre join us to take our message to a wider client base.”

Harry Hodell explains: “The institutional funding model of Fiduciam and its borrower-centric DNA set it apart from many in the bridging lending industry. I am looking forward to working closely with introducers and intermediaries to meet their clients’ needs and to expanding the number of introducers, significantly, over the next few months.”