Sussex Standard

Hybrid brokerage and lender Sussex Standard enters development market



Blend Network’s former lending associate Morgan Sparrow (pictured above) has teamed up with Michael Hatter to create boutique brokerage Sussex Standard, with the capability of providing its own SME property development loans.


The company, which officially launched at the start of this year, primarily focuses on assisting property developers with securing finance at lower interest rates and higher gearing via its network of HNW individuals, family offices and lenders.

It offers brokerage services for bridging and development finance deals — including mezzanine funding — of any size in the UK and mainland Europe.

“As a brokerage, we can offer the full finance stack,” explained Morgan, adding that its extensive network allows Sussex Standard to be selective and find the best possible rates and packages for developers.

“From completing our own projects, we have experienced every aspect of the development cycle, and this allows us to sympathise with developers and appreciate the pressure points they may come across.

“We offer developers in-house analysis on their cases, which gives them the chance to look at the deal through the eyes of a lender.

“An extremely high level of due diligence is done on each case before it is placed — this means that many equity providers and other lenders are keen to work with us, as we have already completely understood and got to the bottom of any issues before bringing the deal to them.”

Sussex Standard can also offer its own loans under £1m for SME developers across the south of England via its Sussex Standard Fund, which enables it to deploy £5m per annum.

It can provide bridging and development finance facilities at up to 70% LTV/LTGDV and 90% LTC, on terms of up to 24 months.

It can also offer private mezzanine funding of up to £300,000 when supplying the senior debt itself.

From a lending point of view, Morgan stated that Sussex Standard is able to lend to developers who may have struggled to access finance previously.

“Being developers ourselves, [we’re] offering a more hand-holding approach on the first few deals they complete with us, with the idea that this should allow them to complete deals unassisted in the future,” he added.

This year, Sussex Standard is looking to grow its lender network, as well as expand its team to transact on as many quality deals as possible.

“Sussex Standard will never be a 50-plus team churning through hundreds of enquiries, as we do not want to take that approach to our business or our clients,” commented Morgan.

“Our goal is to have five or six quality brokers come on board, which are to be paired with a number of experienced case managers who will assist them.

“Who knows what 2022 has in store for us, but we are hoping that it should be a very exciting year for ourselves and our partners.”



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