Peer to peer lender Property Bridges has concluded an investment partnership deal with Lagan Investments under which Lagan will take a 10% share of equity and provide up to €5m of lending capital for future housing projects.
Through its finance platform PropertyBridges.com, supported by the National Digital Research Centre and Enterprise Ireland, Bridge Peer Financial Ltd has created a community of lenders who invest anything from €500 to €100,000 in the company’s housing projects.
Its existing pool of about 2,000 investors has already helped build new housing in Dublin, Kilkenny, Waterford and Limerick. The company wants to expand this pool to more than 10,000 lenders over the next few years.
The Lagan partnership will provide finance to invest in technology, in diversifying the investment offering, growing to 20-plus employees in the next 18 months, and improving in-house credit assessment, project monitoring and due diligence capabilities.
Chief executive David Jelly said: “Raising development finance has never been tougher for small to medium sized property developers. By investing in secure property loans, Irish savers can fund bright hard-working local property developers to undertake construction projects, provide much needed new homes and actually see their money at work in local communities. Not to mention making returns of 8-10% on your investments while doing it.”
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John Lagan added: “Lagan Investments have a strong track record in real estate and are delighted to partner with Property Bridges, which we consider to be a truly transformational business, helping to deliver much needed homes across Ireland.
“The Property Bridges team have demonstrated a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of property development and lending, providing a simple solution which will help to address residential housing shortages nationwide.”
Photo (l-r): Michael Browne, Enterprise Ireland, John Lagan, Lagan Investments; David Jelly, CEO, PropertyBridges.com and Carl Power, NDRC. (Pic: Conor McCabe Photography)
