Property finance for developers · Est. 2005

The right funding, from the right source.

Lions Gate Property Finance is a boutique brokerage sourcing and structuring senior debt, mezzanine and equity for UK residential, commercial and mixed-use development. Over fifteen years of lender relationships, applied individually to each project.

Funding solutions Make an enquiry
£200m+Facilitated
£1m–£25mFacility size
60+Development lender access
Our origins

Formed by the crisis that changed lending.

Lions Gate was founded by Todd Donnelly in 2005, on the back of two decades in real estate in Canada and the UK, much of it as a principal rather than an adviser.

When the financial crisis hit in 2007, the lenders who had bankrolled UK development — a large share of them Irish banks — were nationalised, wound down, or simply stopped lending.

Developers still had viable schemes. What they no longer had was a funding source. We repositioned the business to solve that problem, and have been navigating the specialist lending market ever since.

The shift proved permanent, and the market never went back to how it operated before. Debt funds and other non-bank lenders now hold close to half of all UK commercial real estate debt. Knowing precisely who lends what, and on what terms, is our whole business.

“Developers with good schemes were being turned away by banks that no longer meaningfully existed. New funders gradually emerged to fill the funding gap.” Todd Donnelly, Founder
Funding solutions

Every layer of the capital stack.

Many schemes need more than one facility. We arrange them so they work together rather than against each other.

01

Senior & stretch senior development loans

Land acquisition through to practical completion, at the highest leverage the scheme will sensibly carry.

02

Mezzanine finance

Second-charge debt that lifts total leverage and frees equity for the next site without diluting ownership.

03

Development equity

Funding for schemes that require more than debt alone.

04

Land & commercial bridging loans

Short-term facilities to secure a site, unlock planning gain, or complete against a deadline.

05

Development exit loans

Refinance of a maturing development facility to reduce cost of capital and sell units without pressure.

06

Property investment loans

Term loans for completed residential stock, buy-to-lets, commercial and semi-commercial investment property.

07

Property disposals

Where planning gain or a shift in the market has already created value, the best option may be a sale rather than developing out. We find the buyer.

Selected transactions

What this looks like in practice.

A sample of schemes we have funded, structured or sold. Figures are those of the transaction; client names are withheld. Select any for the detail.

More than 900 homes have been built or are under construction on the sites and schemes we funded, with a combined gross development value above £500 million.

Property disposal · Prime Central London

Consent secured, value realised before completion.

Our client optioned three adjoining Regency buildings in South Kensington, including a hostel, intending to buy and redevelop after obtaining planning consent to refurbish, extend and convert to luxury apartments. We introduced a buyer — an entrepreneurial real estate private equity firm and provider of alternative debt — that was seeking a landmark scheme to spearhead its transition into residential development. This allowed the client to realise significant planning gain and step away from the project risk entirely, without ever completing the purchase.

Sale price
£21m
Type
Disposal
Units
35
1 of 9
The office building before conversion
Before
After
Bridge loan · North London

Opportunistic acquisition with development upside.

This speculative loan enabled an international investment firm to acquire an outdated office building and take it through planning for conversion to private and affordable residential apartments. We sourced the funding from a European institutional private debt manager, and our client proceeded with construction following a successful outcome at planning appeal.

Loan
£17m
Type
Bridge
Units
260
2 of 9
97.5% development funding · East London

Highly leveraged joint-venture capital stack.

We sourced and structured competitive senior debt from a UK challenger bank at 75% loan to cost, paired with a 90% equity injection from a private co-investment platform. This dual-tranche solution reduced the developer’s required cash contribution to just 2.5% of total project cost, bringing forward a scheme they could not have progressed with debt alone.

Funding
£13m
Type
Senior & equity JV
Units
26
3 of 9
Senior debt · South-west London

Development loan for an innovatively designed project.

The lender for this scheme was a specialist division of one of the UK’s largest building societies, whom we had introduced to the client many years earlier. This project comprised a unique, modern riverside terrace of houses and offices, and became the fourth loan in the funding partnership between the two.

Loan
£6m
Type
Senior debt
Scheme
6 houses, 2 offices
4 of 9
Stretch senior · South London

Three consents at once, and the leverage to build them all.

Our client had optioned three sites and obtained planning consent on all of them almost simultaneously, leaving their equity committed in three directions at once. We introduced them to a lender they had not used before, which funded this scheme at 85% of cost. It proved the first of five stretch senior loans from the same lender to the client over a four-year period.

Loan
£3m
Type
Stretch senior
Units
8
5 of 9
Mezzanine finance · South London

Top-up funding to stretch the developer’s equity.

When we met the client, a small regional housebuilder, it was funding its development projects through a major high street bank. That reliable source came at an attractively low cost, but was accompanied by low leverage. With the business growing and the developer seeking ways to make its equity stretch further, our solution was to add a mezzanine slice on top of the bank’s senior debt on the client’s largest scheme to that point.

Loan
£1m
Type
Mezzanine
Units
20
6 of 9
Exit loan · South-west London

An exit that didn’t depend on a sale.

A temporary legal complication with the planning consent left our client unable to sell an otherwise marketable, newly completed detached house. Rather than wait, the property was let to a corporate tenant and we arranged a loan from a specialist lender serving professional landlords, releasing the developer’s equity while the issue was resolved.

Loan
£1m
Type
Exit & investment
Property
Detached house
7 of 9
Revolving credit facility · UK land portfolio

Flexible support to unlock unconditional land acquisitions.

The facility positioned a prominent UK multi-sector developer to move quickly on the purchase of multiple development sites. Securing the funding against a portfolio of properties reduced the risk to the lender — a UK digital challenger bank specialising in bespoke debt finance — without requiring personal guarantees. The facility was renewed beyond its initial five-year term, and the same lender went on to provide multiple development loans to the client.

Loan
£10m
Type
RCF
Security
Land portfolio
8 of 9
Invoice finance · South of England

Adaptive working capital for a contractor doubling in size.

When our construction client experienced rapid expansion, we secured an on-demand selective invoice finance facility with a fintech specialist. This flexible cash injection unlocked immediate supply chain liquidity, allowing our client to comfortably fund a rise in annual turnover from £20 million to more than £40 million.

Facility
£3m
Type
Invoice finance
Turnover
£40m+
9 of 9
Beyond finance

Counsel, partners and sites, through the same network.

Forty years in real estate at senior level and as a principal, across the UK and Canada.

Strategic advisory

Funding strategy for developers scaling up, independent scrutiny of schemes before commitment, and board or non-executive appointments.

Joint ventures

Where a scheme suits shared risk, we match developers with equity and landowners looking for the right development partner.

Off-market opportunities

We frequently hear of sites across the UK before they are marketed, through agents, landowners and developers — and can introduce clients directly.

Next step

Tell us about your funding needs.

An initial conversation is without cost or obligation, and quickly establishes whether the funding exists and what it is likely to cost.

+44 (0) 208 940 1550 info@lions-gate.co.uk