Bridging
Bridger Fiduciam expands into Germany
Fiduciam has continued its European expansion by opening an office in Frankfurt, Germany.
With regulatory permissions in place, it can now help UK brokers with clients who want to borrow against property in Germany, either for other property in Germany or to invest back into the UK.
The lender has set up a lending structure in co-operation with Germany’s MHB-Bank which includes a German subsidiary, Fiduciam GmbH which received its licence in January.
It will offer SMEs and entrepreneurs short-to-medium term bridging finance, with loans in Germany ranging from €500,000 to €25m.
Interest rates will start at 0.6% per month with terms of up to three years.
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Including moves last year, the firm is now lending in France, Spain, Ireland, the Netherlands and Germany, along with the UK.
The lender added that it was already seeing strong demand in Germany, including cases coming through London broker firms.
Double lending volumes
In an interview in January, Fiduciam told Specialist Lending Solutions it was looking to double its lending volumes in 2019 to £250m and hire 25 more staff alongside the European expansion.
It also noted that while plans to mitigate a potential Brexit-induced recession were being made, it would move further into Europe if necessary.
And it highlighted that there were also some concerns around lending discipline within the UK market.
Speaking about the move into Germany, Fiduciam CEO Johan Groothaert (pictured) said: “Germany is facing substantial housing shortages, with population growth picking up after two decades of stagnation.
“This is driving an active real estate market with strengthening prices.
“At the same time, the German economy is characterized by a very dynamic SME sector, which continues to go from strength to strength, now representing more than 50% of the total added value generated by the German corporate sector.
“This makes it the perfect time to enter the German market with array of short and medium-term loans aimed at SMEs.”