Luminii provides CDD to Foresight on their £15m investment into Reto Finance

19 Oct 2021 /

Luminii are delighted to have provided commercial due diligence (CDD) support to Foresight Group (“Foresight”) on their investment into Reto Finance.

Reto Finance was launched in 2019 following a buy-out from Shawbrook International by Quilam Capital and has since served hundreds of consumer and SME borrowers across the Channel Islands. Reto Finance is led by its CEO Adam Dawson who spent seven years building and managing a specialist lending business for an established bank, after working for ten years as a management consultant. Under Quilam Capital and Adam’s leadership, Reto Finance is increasingly becoming the “go to” specialist lender on the Channel Islands offering a wider breadth of products to SMEs and consumers than many of its rivals. The new investment will support the launch of a real estate development finance product and will allow the Company to offer increased flexibility on its existing real estate bridging product.

The property market in the Channel Islands has been well documented in recent months. In June of this year, Jersey's parliament voted against declaring a housing crisis on the island despite clear evidence of demand for real estate far-outweighing supply. Reports indicate there are six or seven parties on average seeking any one rental property, highlighting the need for a substantial increase in the supply of new housing. Reto, Spanish for “challenge”, was keen to develop a new product to support local property developers and consequently help to address the housing shortage. Traditionally more focused upon bridging, Reto will add a flexible development product to their offering.

Foresight Group, fast becoming known as an alternative finance provider to lending businesses, structured a senior debt facility tailored to suit the flexibility required by the Company’s new product.  Investment into lenders such as Reto Finance aligns with Foresight’s regional approach to investing, offering support to local economies and businesses that are unable to access traditional forms of financing. With this investment, Foresight has now committed over £165 million of capital to the alternative lending sector.

"Luminii are delighted to have supported Foresight on this transaction. This is yet another deal that helps to further strengthen our credentials in the financial services and property sectors. We wish Foresight and Reto Finance's management team continued success for the future." - Lushani Kodituwakku, Managing Director, Luminii Consulting

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  • We engaged Luminii for Commercial Due Diligence support on one of our recent investments and we were highly impressed with their high-quality report, professionalism, and flexibility. Luminii were able to address our key questions and due diligence requirements against a tight deadline. They conducted a robust primary research programme, consisting of referencing and surveys and we appreciated their timely updates throughout our engagement. Luminii's team is highly collaborative, showcased by how they worked with us as well as the Management team, other advisors, and our lenders, which we appreciated. We would not hesitate to recommend their services and look forward to working with them again in the future.

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  • Lushani and her team at Luminii delivered a high quality CDD report that exceeded our expectations. We were particularly pleased with the post deal recommendations and informed opinions contained within the report. We wouldn't hesitate to use Luminii's services again on future projects.

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  • We engaged Luminii Consulting for a very targeted piece of commercial diligence in a very short timeframe. Luminii produced an outstanding report exactly on scope in what is a niche market segment. Moreover they managed to produce it in a very short period of time which was essential to getting the deal done.

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    Finance lender providing short term property finance