Off the back of Capital Bridging’s new funding line, B&C has learnt that not only has the new facility expanded its existing funding lines by 25 per cent, but the lender has increased its maximum loan size to £5 million.

Capital Bridging Finance Limited (CBFL) has now increased its maximum loan size by 40 per cent, from £3 million to £5 million.

The new line, with an unnamed fund , has been hailed in the industry as a clear sign that institutions are supporting not just the industry, but Capital Bridging in particular. This recent development follows the announcement in November whereby the lender secured a £50 million funding line from HSBC.

Capital Bridging has now seen its funding go up fourfold in the last eight months, increasing by around £80 million.

Sixty per cent of the current funding line is allocated to funding deals in the South East, from Norwich to Bournemouth. However, the new funding line, announced two weeks ago, will now mean that Capital Bridging will be able to increase its lending further afield into areas lacking liquidity and also the expanding markets in Scotland.

Keith Aldridge, Managing Director of Capital Bridging, disclosed to B&C that the lender’s loan book will not only grow in size as a result of the new financial backing, but that Capital will now look more into commercial lending, which at the moment is around 15 per cent of its loan book, and will also look towards providing increased development funding in the future.

“The new funding enables us to expand into longer term lending though selected partners which will help towards our new growth plans”, Keith added.

Keith said: “We, as a group of short term lenders in the market, don’t have enough liquidity in certain regions outside London and the South East, which is why we will open up access to funding in more areas, and increase our lending in Scotland.

“Another area we are looking to expand into is on the auction finance front, and we are in talks with several leading auction houses in this process.”

Capital Bridging is expanding on both the valuation and legal front and announced last week a new partnership with Leeds-based national law firm Blacks Connect.

The lender has strengthened its team with a number of new hires, but it continues to look at adding to its rank in both underwriting and sales departments. Most recently, Zara Ali has been hired as a Collections Manager, coming from Virgin Media.

In line with its growth plans, Capital Bridging is also looking to double its key partners by Q4 2013.