Fortwell ups care home loan to £70m
Fortwell Capital has increased its revolving debt facility to LNT Care Developments to £70m.
LNT will use the increased facility to fund the construction of its pipeline of an additional 1,300 beds across 20 care homes.
Fortwell first provided a £30m debt facility to LNT in 2014, to fund the acquisition of land and and construction of 17 care homes. In 2018, it increased this to £40m and extended the loan until 2021.
Fortwell Capital has increased its revolving debt facility to LNT Care Developments to £70m.
LNT will use the increased facility to fund the construction of its pipeline of an additional 1,300 beds across 20 care homes.
Fortwell first provided a £30m debt facility to LNT in 2014, to fund the acquisition of land and and construction of 17 care homes. In 2018, it increased this to £40m and extended the loan until 2021.
Dan Smith, chief executive of Fortwell, said: “They approached us in mid-2014. They were looking to diversify their sources of finance from lenders and were looking for a more commercial approach to lending.
“It was a sector that I had been tracking for a number of years and was looking for entry points. We funded the initial site in December 2014, and we’ve done over £100m with them now.”
LNT takes around 12 months to build the homes, after drawing finance which is repaid and can be recycled back into the facility for new schemes to be constructed during the life of the loan.
Projects range from 60-70 beds in town centres and suburban areas across the Midlands and the north of England which have a strong demographic demand that is not being satisfied. Schemes include Wetherby in Leeds (pictured above), with upcoming developments in Sandbach in Cheshire and Bicester in Oxfordshire, among others.
Smith said: “There is an undersupply of new care homes being delivered in the UK, and we are conscious of the ageing demographic that is growing at pace.
“It’s a resilient sector to be in, and if we are funding high-quality developers and operators delivering homes and beds to meet a growing demand, that is a good place for Fortwell to focus on.”
The loan has an expiration of 2021, but Smith said he expects future facilities to be put in place that will see the partnership continue.
The loan is the fifth major facility that Fortwell Capital has written in the past three months, bringing the amount of capital deployed by the lender since February to more than £200m.
Fortwell was established in 2011 to provide short- and medium-term financing solutions to developers and investors. Cain International has a majority shareholding in the lender, following a management buyout in 2018. Fortwell has lent more than £1.2bn through around 350 loans.
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