Daniel Austin, ASK’s CEO and Co-founder reflects on the company’s journey to achieving this milestone
Following this first loan, we continued to build our portfolio, working with highly reputable property investors and developers, and demonstrating early on that we were able to underwrite a variety of complex transactions for a range of ticket sizes. In 2018 we completed our first significantly larger transaction; a £62.0m co-loan with OakNorth Bank to Groveworld, secured against a major mixed-use development site in King’s Cross.
In 2019, the number of lending opportunities we were receiving started to significantly increase and we closed £100m in debt facilities during a period of just four months, all secured against sites with significant development and asset management potential. One example was an £11.0m facility secured against a site for a proposed residential-led mixed-use scheme in Barnet.
Partnering with reputable property investors and developers undoubtedly strengthened our standing in the market despite being a nascent company at the time, and our ability to deliver bespoke and flexible finance options enabled us to build long-lasting partnerships with new and existing clients.
Our well-capitalised clients took advantage of new opportunities in a volatile market
Once the pandemic hit in early 2020, like most, we were unsure of the scale and longevity of the potential impacts. However, two years of uncertainty brought about significant opportunity and 75% of ASK’s £1bn lending milestone was achieved between March 2020 and August 2022.
During this period, the experience and financial strength of our clients enabled them to capitalise on the opportunities that the flux in the market created. Coupled with this, ASK’s rigorous credit processes enabled us to appraise clients’ residential and commercial business plans across a broad variety of sectors, and to offer terms that worked for them and also provided the risk-adjusted returns that our investors were looking for.
Leveraging new trends in a post-pandemic world
In the period following the pandemic up to August 2022 we lent a total of £750m. We saw trends emerge across a variety of sectors, including office, BTR, student, retail and life sciences, all of which presented interesting opportunities.
- The office market flattened with the advent of homeworking, but many looked to reposition their assets. We funded a number of conversion projects, including an office to hotel scheme in Covent Garden and an office to residential scheme in Bracknell.
- We experienced a boom in build to rent activity, particularly in the regions, as a result of the flight from cities to seek well-designed space with amenities. An example of this is a loan we provided against a regional scheme in Hove.
- Purpose-built student accommodation also grew as an asset class as a result of a considerable shortage of student living accommodation, with ASK funding the development of a PBSA scheme in Falmouth.
- Opportunities also came about from retail sector distress, with retail to residential conversions becoming popular alongside a boom in logistics and warehousing. We provided two loans to BYM Capital secured against shopping centres for asset management and repositioning; one in Barnet and one in Hounslow.
- Life sciences is another sector that experienced significant investor interest as a result of the pandemic. We funded a number of life sciences projects, including the acquisition of an office building in Cambridge, which our client is looking to achieve planning consent to convert into life science lab-space.
Our clients
The £1bn of total lending was spread across 95 UK transactions and was achieved with no defaults and 41 redemptions totalling £385m. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients, investors, advisors and introducers, without whom achieving this milestone would not have been possible. With the prospect of challenging times ahead, we will remain committed to continuing to support experienced property developers and investors with flexible finance solutions that meet their bespoke funding requirements.
Get in touch
If you have any projects that require financing, or if you would like to discuss financing options, please get in touch by emailing us at info@askpartners.co.uk, or by giving us a call on 020 3976 6700.
