Black & White Bridging origination surpasses £250m
The specialist lender, formerly Bath & West Finance, states that it has now lent £270m, with £125m in the last 12 months alone.
The largest portion of this has been through its residential and commercial bridging products which have contributed to over 1,300 new UK homes being funded or refurbished.
The £250m milestone comes following a record first quarter, in terms of both loan numbers and value, moving Black & White closer to meeting its goal of writing £250m of new business in 2025.
Damien Druce, chief operating officer of Black & White Bridging, said: “A quarter of a billion is quite a milestone and hitting it is a huge boost for everyone at Black & White. It confirms we are on the right track with our vision for a truly transparent proposition with no grey areas, backed up by consistent service and fast lending decisions, giving our brokers and their borrowers the certainty of outcome they demand and deserve.
“I remember when we completed our 200th loan in September 2021; that felt like a big deal at the time. Since then, we have hired some industry characters including industry veterans Magnus Dadzie and Danny Power. We have opened two new regional offices in Manchester and London, to complement our original Bristol HQ, and we have secured two new funding lines. In February this year, we completed our largest loan to date, totalling £8m, supporting the sales period for Phase 2 of the City Green development in Birmingham for Pete Williams at Empire Global. The team has built some real momentum.
“That the first quarter of 2025 has been our biggest yet also suggests there are a lot of borrowers who are making the most of the opportunities in the short-term lending market at the moment.”
Black & White states that their product mix has evolved since rebranding in 2021. Their commercial bridge for semi-commercial, commercial and land still represents a fifth of all loans.
But Black & White’s bespoke refurbishment bridge (which provides capital quickly without the need for a full development loan), its development finance product (which covers ground-up development as well as conversions and major refurbishment) and it’s development exit product (a sales period bridge allowing borrowers to replace an existing development finance facility on finished units to release capital for new projects) have become more popular.
While Black & White said that their auction bridge product has been particularly popular in the run up to the stamp duty deadline, alongside their residential bridge, which includes light refurbishment, these have become a smaller part of their lending mix.
Damien Druce said: “Our bespoke auction product was particularly popular ahead of the stamp duty deadline. But the bulk of our business, and our bread and butter, continues to be our residential bridge, whether it’s a vanilla or complex transaction. Whatever the project, our team and truly transparent products are designed to structure bespoke deals that have the borrowers’ best interest at heart. We have no upfront fees, nothing hidden, and since our latest product updates and additional funding, we believe our offering is market-leading – with no grey areas.”