A property investment firm is looking to raise £5m to redevelop a former office building in Somerset into flats.
Warrington-based Sourced Capital has launched a round to transform number 1 Tangier Central in Taunton into 55 apartments, with planning permission secured.
A representative of the company said the property, located off Castle Street in the town centre on the bank of the River Tone, has been vacant for some time following a flood, though its owners have since undertaken repair work.
Other buildings in the complex in which the property is situated are occupied by several businesses, while BusinessLive’s sister website SomersetLive previously reported the site has been used for office space by police and the Crown Prosecution Service.
Sourced Capital is the fintech funding arm of Sourced Group and funds projects undertaken by its holding company’s network of property developers.
The company said funding for the Tangier Central project was open to investors via its peer to peer platform, which said it had recently received direct authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
In an update on its social media on Tuesday (May 11), the firm reported the raise had already raised £2.5m - half of its intended target - within five working hours.
Our latest investment opportunity, Tangier Central, Taunton T1, hit more than 50% funded with £.
Read more in this latest article: https://t.co/9kmN29uahV #Investmentproperty #Investment #SSAS #ISA #Taunton pic.twitter.com/CTu50WnEzb— Sourced Capital (@Sourced_Capital)
Sourced Capital said it has seen “huge demand” from investors in two recent loan opportunities launched via its platform, including a £2.1m loan funded in just 24 hours, and the second being a £267,000 loan funded in less than 60 seconds.
Derek Pratt, commercial director at Sourced Capital, added: “We are, therefore, delighted to be able to launch this new investment opportunity so soon after the last project and pleased that this will give more of our qualified investors the chance to back this increasingly popular asset class.
“Over recent months, demand has been growing steadily to the point where we have funded deals in under a minute. So this next loan will help satisfy that growing demand from investors who are looking for rates of return that are capable of staying ahead of the rapidly increasing inflation rates.”
Sourced Capital said it had returned over £15m of capital and around .£2.6m of interest to investors and funded more than £25m of loans for property developments across the UK.
Despite this Mr Pratt said peer -to-peer lending was "not a suitable investment" for everyone and that all investors on the Sourced Capital’s platform would need to demonstrate "appropriateness".
Peer-to-peer investments do not have protection from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, so there is a risk of loss to investors’ capital, even with the loans benefitting from security.
Mr Pratt also reminded potential investors of a regulatory warning that past performance cannot be assumed to be a definite indicator of future returns.
He added: “Whilst our sweet spot for lending is typically between £250,000 and £3m, we always assess each proposal on its individual merits, with the current pipeline demonstrating our willingness to support quality transactions both above and below this range if they provide the right calibre of opportunities for our investors.”
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