A stable rate through a volatile market, flexibility on covenant terms and credit decisions that look beyond day-one mechanics to the real shape of the asset over time. 

The £3.4m refinance with Hampden Bank demonstrates how the right private banking partner can shape the long-term performance of a commercial property.

Maritime had completed the acquisition of a commercial property for a client some months earlier and carried out a programme of active asset management that materially improved its value. With the original short-term finance approaching expiry, the asset was ready for a longer-term refinance.

The challenge was matching the right lender to the asset. A standard high-street offer would likely have applied rigid policy across the board, refusing to recognise the post-acquisition value uplift, applying a blanket 160% Interest Cover Ratio (ICR) covenant and offering little room for negotiation around lease event risk. 

But Hampden Bank took a different approach.

The first new private bank to launch in the United Kingdom in 30 years, it lends from its own balance sheet.

Lending from the balance sheet rather than the wider market has two big advantages.

The first is rate stability. Hampden prices against the Bank of England base rate, which moved very little during the six-month process between offer and completion. The 3.75% base rate that underpinned the original offer was the same rate at drawdown, meaning headline pricing held steady. 

Market-funded lenders, pricing against SONIA (Sterling Overnight Index Average), would have repriced if conditions had shifted in that window.

The second is flexibility. Because the loan sits on Hampden's own book, the bank can take a view on individual assets and individual borrowers, rather than applying blanket policy. That played out in two important ways on this transaction.

Maritime had already added significant value to the asset through hands-on management in the six months following acquisition. 

Hampden recognised that uplift in their valuation, allowing the refinance to proceed at a loan-to-value that reflected the property's improved position. 

Many high-street lenders refuse to recognise post-acquisition value uplift within six months of purchase, regardless of the active management carried out in that period.

The Hampden team also looked ahead at the lease structure and spotted a potential issue. One tenant's lease was due to expire within a year of drawdown, creating the risk of a technical breach against a standard 160% ICR covenant. The credit team reduced the ICR requirement to ensure that no technical breaches were likely in the near future, giving the client greater covenant headroom and a more practical facility structure.

That single decision, taken at the point of credit approval, removed a year-one risk that a policy-driven bank would probably have left on the table.

Throughout the process Maritime had open dialogue with the banking team, with judgment calls made on the phone rather than escalated through layers of approval.

The deal completed on attractive terms, with a stable rate and covenant headroom that proactively manages the asset's biggest known risk.

This transaction reinforces our broader view of the private banking market. As high-street lenders have stepped back from commercial property, balance-sheet private banks have stepped into the gap with the kind of relationship-led lending that complex, real-world property deals demand.