The Inland Revenue lost patience with the antics of a former professional footballer and his advisers and placed a bankruptcy petition notice on his properties. He had one month to pay or be made bankrupt. The problem in raising the finance was that although his net equity in the properties was substantial, the LTVs were between 76% and 85%. Unsecured creditors amounted to in excess of £750k and in addition he had a number of unsatisfied CCJs.
Repayment of the bridge was via a 50% sale of a piece of green belt land upon which a planning application had been made for leisure uses. A potential joint venture partner had taken a positive outlook on the planning and agreed to purchase the land but could not complete for at least another two months.
Lee Selbo, MD and head of the consultancy division of Bespoke Bridging Finance, said: “This was quite a desperate situation for the client. Bankruptcy would have made front page news. If his potential purchaser got wind of the fact that the client could be made bankrupt they would have delayed their purchase, and many years' work assembling the site and grounds for change of use would have come to nothing. With four young children, a wife, an ex-wife and other family members to support, the family Christmas was not going to be filled with jolly family times.”
However, within 24 hours Bespoke had devised a strategy and structure to save the day. The client and his solicitor acted in accordance with Bespoke's instructions. The Revenue responded positively and, as Bespoke could fund the loan themselves, all deadlines could be met. Because of the structure Bespoke devised, other funding opportunities were then available to the client, who from nowhere was in a position of having choices rather than being dictated to.
Selbo added: “We may not be the biggest but we punch way above our weight and are amongst the best at what we do. Being able to devise alternative strategies and structures not apparent to others is our speciality. We are able not only to quickly devise these strategies but have the funding to execute them. The majority of bridging companies are not in a position to sanction loans of this type and cannot usually get their heads around how the strategy and structure can be executed. We are confident of finding solutions to difficult funding problems.”
