Briar Capital Real Estate Fund closed a $13.8 million real estate acquisition loan for a foreign owned startup company in the green energy space.
Having identified a large, heavy industrial facility in southeast Texas to house its U.S. manufacturing operation, this company engaged one of a mortgage brokerage firm to find a real estate lender. Not only was the company looking for a lender to assist it in the purchase of the property but one flexible enough to accommodate it while it renovated the facility. Despite its global success, this company lacked a U.S. manufacturing presence and as a true start-up, was unable to obtain credit from traditional lenders. With no available guarantors (personal or corporate) and numerous months away from generating revenue, the company sought an asset based real estate lender large enough to make a loan this size and one that could look beyond the ‘typical” non-starters that prevent them from borrowing from most commercial finance companies.
Briar Capital was introduced to the company’s mortgage broker through a real estate lender in Houston, TX familiar with Briar Capital’s focus on the commercial, owner-occupied space. This lender recognized Briar Capital’s vast experience providing customized real estate lending solutions to businesses that do not fit the conventional lending mold.
“There is no better compliment than when a fellow lender recognizes the value you bring to the table and makes an introduction for you on a deal like this” Jeff Van Sickle, president of Briar Capital, said. “We were very pleased to structure an asset based real estate lending facility that addressed the unique challenges this company faced as a foreign owned, start-up manufacturing business looking to purchase and renovate a property as large as this one.”
“I am not sure other real estate lenders in our space would have been able to address the needs of this company as creatively as we did let alone tackle a loan this size without having to find participants,” Susan Holliday, chief credit officer at Briar Capital, said.
