Hilco Real Estate Finance provides £14.2m development exit loan

Specialist bridge lender Hilco Real Estate Finance (HREF) has provided a £14.2m development exit loan to Torsion Group, a leading Leeds-based real estate investor & developer.

The 12-month loan at 74% net loan to value will provide the Group’s development arm, Torsion Developments, with additional time to sell the remaining units in their 364-unit Pheonix residential scheme in Leeds.

Charlie Job, associate at HREF, said: “This development exit loan to Torsion is a perfect example of transitional capital, and demonstrates our ability to lend swiftly without any constraints on funding on any deal that makes sense. This transaction also shows our appetite for development exit loans and the deliverability of our funding, and we look forward to transacting on further developments with Torsion Group.”

HREF has started 2025 with a number of significant bridging transactions, and anticipates closing a further three deals totalling over £30m in the coming weeks.

The transaction was introduced by Nick Swerner of GLPG, who commented: “Working with our client and Hilco on this deal was highly enjoyable, as we had two motivated partners to conclude the transaction, with Hilco proving to be a reliable capital partner, able to deliver swiftly on their own decision to lend without any third party involvement.

Valuations were undertaken by Gerald Eve LLP, and legal due diligence and transactional support was carried out for HREF by Clarion Solicitors led by Ben Slack and Marie Pugh.

HREF was launched in 2023 and provides tailored, flexible property finance nationwide across various real estate sectors and capital structures, offering short term bridging loans for growth, acquisition opportunities, development exits and refinancing exits with loan sizes ranging from £3m to over £100m.
The lender has grown quickly to become one the UK’s most active specialist bridge lenders, and continues to target growth, intending to expand its loan book significantly in 2025 across all real estate sectors in the UK and Ireland.

HREF has offices throughout the UK and comprises a team of highly experienced finance professionals. It is a fully integrated subsidiary of Hilco Global (Hilco), the multi-national financial services group with more than $5bn of assets under management.