United Trust Bank led and participated in providing a financing package to assist new company, Heritable Partners Ltd, in their acquisition of the structured property finance business of Heritable Bank Plc (in Administration) (“Heritable”).
Heritable, a UK registered bank founded in 1877, is owned by Landsbanki Islands hf of Iceland. As a result of Landsbanki’s failure, Heritable was placed in Administration on October 7th 2008.
Prior to Administration, Heritable, through their Structured Property Finance division, were a significant provider of development finance for mid-market property developers across the UK.
On entering Administration, Heritable’s Structured Property Finance loan book stood at circa £400 million secured predominantly against residential developments in London and the South East. The administrators quickly concluded that running the book down in an orderly fashion to include continuing to advance funds to complete schemes and support borrowers was in the best interests of the creditors and this has been proven to be the case.
Heritable Partners Ltd is owned by the management team from the Structured Property Finance Division of Heritable and led by Nick Barrett. The team has more than 40 years of experience working in the sector, including the last three years working alongside the lead Administrator, Alan Bloom of Ernst & Young, in managing the loan book.
Noel Meredith, Director at United Trust Bank said:
“I am delighted that United Trust Bank could assist Heritable Partners in this acquisition. Nick Barrett and the team are experienced professionals and they approached us with a solid proposition which needed a substantial funding package on a tight deadline. Given United Trust Bank’s position in the development finance sector, we were well placed to understand the risks and design the package. It was a complex transaction, refinancing a diverse pot of development finance loans.”
Nick Barrett of Heritable Partners said:
“We approached UTB because of their undoubted knowledge of the sector which they demonstrated admirably in concluding the transaction swiftly and efficiently. They were clear in their requirements and aided by short reporting lines were very responsive throughout.”