Editor Jason McGee-Abe spoke to Managing Director Martyn Smith about the lender’s launch, its funding, products, and future plans…
 
Intermediary-based Bath & West launched on 3rd June 2013, set up by bridgingloans.com founder Martyn Smith.

Martyn has been in the industry since 1984, and previously launched bridgingloans.com, which became the first bridging lender to float on the stock exchange back in 2000. Prior to this, Martyn was a director at bridging lender Bristol & West Investments.

He is seen by many as a pioneer of the bridging finance sector, but for the past few years, he has been building up his own property portfolio, and is also currently in the process of establishing an estate agency.

Bath & West, in its first week of business, was set up in April 2013 with Martyn’s business partner and Finance Director Ian Parsons.

Ian has been involved in the bridging sector since 2006, where he worked with Martyn at bridgingloans.com. He has held several roles in the finance and service sectors, and helped raise significant amounts of finance and completed numerous transactions.

Funding:

Bath & West was in negotiations prior to securing a funding facility with Fincorp with other routes to market, but it was Fincorp’s bridging experience and knowledge that made the decision easy for Martyn.

Martyn said: “Fincorp are one of the more established lenders within the market and they were extremely diligent in our negotiations with them. Our routes and background are very much outside the M25, so securing a partnership with Fincorp was a perfect fit with our business plans.

“We share a common ethos with Ronnie Natas, Founding Director, and his team at Fincorp. We’d also like to praise Matthew Anderson in the successful negotiations. They are extremely knowledgeable and have the track record to prove it. Our services will complement one another.”

Fincorp will provide finance on loans sourced by the lender at its base of operations, covering properties in Bath, Bristol and the surrounding area.

The deal in turn will provide Fincorp with the chance to extend its geographical coverage.

However, Bath & West is individually-owned and indeed has a number of other private funding lines, and also equity within the group which can be utilised.

B&C has learnt that Bath & West had even turned down a number of different routes to market beforehand, including the suggestion of a UCIS- funded route to market.

Product Guide:

Loan size: £50,000 to £500,000
1st charge: Up to 70% LTV
2nd charge: Up to 60% LTV
Term: up to 12 months
Other: Development finance, GDV up to £2 million
             Speculative property options
             Funding on unmortgageable properties

Partners:

Martyn emphasised how critical it was for the lender to establish its foundations firmly, “like a tree”, in order for the lender to experience strong and steady organic growth. In that light in its first stage of operation it will be working with just half a dozen of key broker partners.

Future:

Although the market has changed and new lenders such as “Dragonfly and Precise”, Martyn points out, have helped to reinvigorate the bridging industry, he still believes that “service is king” - no matter if one is using a bridging lender, brokerage or any other company, which is where Bath & West’s ultimate USP and experience will help drive them forward.

Martyn said: “I may be regarded as the oldest boy on the block in bridging but there is always room for improvement and we are always learning and improving.  I’m keen to start lending in the South West, an area which we know holds much demand for bridging finance.”

Having watched from the bridging wings over the last few years, in an industry which finally has the professionalism - which Martyn strived for in his tenure at bridgingloans.com - from the perceived “Old Cowboy” lending days, he is keen to start lending.

Bath & West is on the lookout for new recruits to join its ranks, and is a lender, along with its bridging veteran, which has certainly got people within the industry talking over the last week, and no doubt in the future to come.