Roma Finance was approached to support a business owner who required a bridging loan to complete the purchase of a health club and day spa.

The Club is situated on the outskirts of Ipswich, a thriving town in East Anglia with significant residential development ongoing and a one-hour commute to central London.

The health club closed at the start of lockdown in 2020 due to Covid-19 and the previous owner decided to sell it on. Our customer had plans to purchase and re-open the Club once restrictions had been lifted and also to refurbish the property, to increase the quality of the facilities, and enhance the members’ and day spa guest’s experience.

The borrowers are experienced health club and spa owners with a healthy portfolio prior to this loan and a history of successfully improving and operating such businesses.

The initial valuation they received was £1.6M but with the full assistance of two other unencumbered residential properties owned by the customer, Roma provided a gross facility loan of £1.8M on a 24-month term to give the borrowers flexibility. All funds were used towards the purchase of the club.

The success of the refurbishment and relaunch of the Health Club was reflected in their exit, as they were able to refinance onto a £2.05M commercial mortgage with a high street lender within 9 months.

Samantha Williamson, Bridging and Development Specialist at Roma Finance commented “We were glad to be able to bring this case over the line so our customers could complete on the property. The borrowers are really experienced individuals and it was great to be able to assist with adding another club to their portfolio.”

Lisa Toner, Completions Manager of Roma Finance, also added “It was really insightful being able to go on a site visit to see our borrowers at one of their existing health clubs. The funds were required for the purchase of the additional club and it was exciting to see how Roma could contribute to help them to continue to create wealth through property, adding to their already growing portfolio.”

Our customer commented “The support from Roma enabled us to secure an opportunity during lockdown to purchase a health club and day spa that was attractive to us and was available at a reduced price, due to the fact that it was closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We were unable to get funding from the bank as their risk-averse nature meant they were nervous about funding a business sector that had been so dramatically impacted by the pandemic. Roma’s innovative solution was the only way we could have secured this transaction.”