Villa Refurbishment
Marbella, Spain

A UK-based investor had acquired a dated villa on Marbella's Golden Mile for €1.6m using personal savings. The property needed a complete strip-out and luxury redesign at an estimated cost of €2.1m to create a high-end rental villa. The investor needed £3.2m bridging finance to fund the refurbishment works and cover professional fees, with the loan secured against their UK commercial property portfolio. Their existing bank refused to lend against UK assets for an overseas project, and two Spanish banks wouldn't lend to a non-resident without a lengthy application process that would have delayed the build by months.

Cross-border transactions add layers of complexity. The funds were needed in euros but the security was UK commercial property. The investor's solicitor in Spain operated on a different legal framework, and the UK lender needed comfort that the funds would be used as stated. There was also a tight timeline — the Spanish contractor had a start date that couldn't slip without losing the build slot and incurring significant penalties.

We arranged a bridging facility secured against two of the investor's UK commercial properties — a retail unit in Manchester and an office building in Leeds. The combined security gave strong LTV coverage. We worked with a lender we work with who had experience with international fund deployment and was comfortable with the cross-border nature of the deal. The facility was structured with a single drawdown converted to euros at completion, with the exit strategy being a refinance onto a long-term Spanish mortgage once the villa refurbishment was complete and revalued.