- What REL Finance has raised up to £100m from family office investors
- Why New platform has been founded by former Topland Group and I&M Bank Uganda directors
- What next Company looking to target opportunistic borrowers looking for between £3m and £40m
Two former directors from Topland Group and I&M Bank Uganda have joined forces to launch REL Finance, a new finance platform, with £100m ready to deploy, React News can reveal.
The company has been founded by Tashin Morjaria, formerly an executive director at Ugandan institution, I&M Bank (formerly Orient Bank), and Sumeer Bose, who was previously a director in Topland Group’s structured finance team.
REL has raised £100m from family office investors to support its first year’s lending, and is looking to capitalise on bank retrenchment to offer opportunistic borrowers seeking loans of £3m to £40m.
The fund has already closed its first deal, completing a £21.2m refinancing of a facility for a Far East-based developer and investor for a City of London asset.
The UK-focused fund will offer senior loans of up to 70% loan-to-value as well as mezzanine and joint venture equity on agreements of up to 24 months.
Morjaria said: “The UK’s CRE debt market has tightened considerably, with the clearing banks becoming much more cautious in their approach to what they anticipate being a prolonged period of market volatility.”
“But opportunistic buyers and developers are spotting great assets with strong repositioning plays coming at a time when values are likely starting to plateau. We see our role as being able to move quickly to allow them to capitalise, with our funding secured and ready to deploy.”
Bose added: “Having a relationship-led approach has long been a cliché in real estate finance but it’s at moments like this that they really matter, and they are at the centre of our approach and ability to execute quickly.”
Bose is the second ex-Topland director to launch their own lending business in recent months. In June, React News revealed Ed Matthews had launched Mera IM with £100m of backing from private family offices.