Case study: £5m mortgage for private equity director with various income streams

Investec mortgages leverage the complex income structures of high-net-worth individuals by taking a holistic approach to affordability. Our private bankers can consider a range of assets and income profiles, without relying on checkbox methods. This could help you achieve a higher LTV and act at speed.

We recently helped a private equity professional to secure a dramatic country estate and surrounding land.

The borrower

Our client was a Senior Managing Director at a leading American Private Equity firm with a number of years’ experience in the industry. He had recently joined the firm in 2022 after being on gardening leave for several months.

The property

The client was looking to purchase an eight-bedroom Grade II* listed property, as well as a cottage, a coach house, and outbuildings set in five acres of gardens. The main house required non-structural renovation works throughout. He was also purchasing a large plot of parkland nearby.

Collectively, the security was spread across five different freehold titles. The total purchase price was £6,000,000, a material discount due to the vendor’s urgency. It was difficult to establish its true value upfront, including the split between property and land value.

The client intended to turn their current main residence into a buy-to-let property upon completion of the new purchase, although no tenancy had been agreed yet.

The problem

The client’s current liquidity was low as he had recently undertaken substantial refurbishment works on two properties, covered capital calls as part of his fund commitment and also made various Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) investments. While his balance sheet was well-diversified, many assets were illiquid or subject to vesting restrictions.

To fund his contribution to the purchase, the client would sell three buy-to-let properties and use a future carried interest payment. To fund mortgage repayments, the client's income comprised a range of streams, including base salary, cash bonus, deferred equity bonus, carried interest and rental income. He also received a sign-on bonus (unvested stock). Some of this income was in a currency other than GBP and therefore was subject to volatility in both FX rates and the underlying share price of the employer.

When evidencing affordability, there was a limited track record of discretionary compensation (cash and equity bonus) at the current firm.

The solution

Investec undertook extensive analysis of the client's complex income and assets to understand the client’s intended repayment strategy for the mortgage, with a fully bespoke approach for the land element, based on the strength of the client.

The £5,148,000 loan was split into two parts with a combined LTV of 86%. This included a 90% LTV regulated loan on the property, cottage, coach house and outbuildings, and a 50% LTV non-regulated loan on the parkland. Upon completion of the works on the main house, the LTV will reduce to 66% based on the gross development value.

The property loan was on an interest only ten-year term and the land loan was on a fully amortising five-year term, with both parts on a variable rate for flexibility. The mortgage structure allowed the client to purchase the property while leaving sufficient liquidity for other financial commitments.

Important information:

Minimum eligibility criteria and terms and conditions apply. Your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on your mortgage. Investec residential mortgages are only available for residential properties in England or Wales and are primarily available to UK residents and subject to eligibility.