Electrum’s in-house experience with project finance and structured finance, coupled with a great reserve of legal and analytical expertise, have led to its involvement, either as lead, or partner, in several further areas of specialist financing activity. The most significant and innovative of these are described below.
Deposit Doctor
Deposit Doctor is an innovative scheme that allows purchasers of UK residential property, whether they be owner-occupiers or property investors, to fund the deposit required at the time of exchanging Contracts of Sale. The scheme is insurance based, and is intended to provide a guarantee for the deposit until completion of the purchase. The Deposit Doctor scheme issues the would-be buyer with a bond* representing the value of the deposit, which is recognised by financial institutions via rating or other covenant support, as providing a guarantee for up to 24 months** vis-à-vis the sum covered.
The liquidity provided to the market makes for quicker property transactions, via quicker deposit backed commitments, while in strong upward markets, Deposit Doctor permits buyers to commit to purchases more quickly than would otherwise be possible.
The scheme can also be accessed by developers, as an efficient sales tool for the benefit of buyers, permitting more efficient capital utilisation and thus higher rates of return on capital. Owing to the way in which the insurance structure deploys capital, the cost of the Deposit Doctor is much lower than that associated with any type of bridging finance.
* Electrum will issue the bond
** Longer periods available by negotiation.
Richmond Capital Solutions
Richmond Capital Solutions (“RCS”) is a developer of products and services, including pricing and credit ratings models, catering to end clients servicing the local authority, university and NHS Trust sectors. RCS works at the nexus of counterparties seeking long term funding and providers of funds seeking secure long-term, inflation-correlated income streams and capital preservation, whilst generating a positive social impact. RCS has registered the Trade Mark SIBIL (Social Impact Bond – Index Linked) which involves the application of a financial instrument with specific characteristics to a property development delivery solution. As such it brings together the experience of partners in the property and financial services sectors to address the acute need to deliver high impact social real estate, including housing as well as educational facilities and other community infrastructure.