At a glance
GRE Capital agreed a 12-month senior facility of £16m secured over the freehold an established boutique townhouse hotel of 30 en-suite bedrooms and suites on Beaufort Gardens in Knightsbridge.
The brief
The incumbent bridge facility was approaching maturity and the owner had begun preparing the hotel for sale. What was needed was short term continuity on terms that would not force the pace of that process or put pressure on the price achieved.
The GRE solution
GRE Capital provided a fully retained 12-month facility, with interest retained for the entire term so as to remove any call on trading cashflow during the marketing period and allow the disposal to achieve value rather than to meet a monthly debt service obligation. The hotel has been owner operated for more than twenty years and is managed alongside a specialist hospitality asset management consultancy, providing operational depth independent of the owner.
The outcome
The maturing facility was refinanced and the hotel continued trading undisturbed, with no debt service drawn from operating cashflow at any point in the term. The owner has appointed agents and taken the property to market on a considered timetable, with the well located hotel and long established operator behind it mitigating any downside risk.
