Question 1

What is a bridge loan in real estate finance?

Accepted Answer

A bridge loan is a short-term, asset-backed facility — typically 3 to 24 months — used to fund a property acquisition, refinancing, or capital event before a longer-term solution is in place. In prime European real estate, bridge loans are most often deployed to secure an asset under time pressure, release equity ahead of a sale, restructure existing debt, or fund a transitional business plan such as a refurbishment or planning uplift. Pricing reflects speed and flexibility rather than the lower cost of senior term debt. Passy Partners arranges bridge facilities of €1M to €50M secured against prime real estate across the UK, France, Monaco, Switzerland, and Luxembourg.

Question 2

How does development finance differ from a bridge loan?

Accepted Answer

Development finance funds the construction or substantial refurbishment of a property and is drawn down in tranches as works progress, against a quantity surveyor's monitoring reports. A bridge loan, by contrast, is typically funded in a single drawdown against an existing asset, with no construction risk priced in. Development facilities are usually longer (18 to 36 months), include a built-in interest reserve, and are sized against both loan-to-cost and loan-to-gross-development-value. Passy Partners arranges both, and frequently structures them in sequence: a development facility through practical completion, refinanced onto a bridge or term loan at exit.

Question 3

Are you a lender?

Accepted Answer

No. Passy Partners is a boutique London-based arranger. We act on the borrower's side to structure the financing requirement, approach the relevant lenders in our network — private banks, debt funds, family offices, and specialist real estate lenders across Europe — and run the process through to drawdown. Because we are not balance-sheet constrained, we are not pushing one product. The structure follows the deal: senior, stretch-senior, mezzanine, or whole-loan, with whichever counterparty is best placed on price, timing, and jurisdiction. Borrowers retain the lender relationship after completion.

Question 4

What deal size and jurisdictions does Passy Partners cover?

Accepted Answer

We arrange real estate finance from €1M to €50M, secured against prime assets in the United Kingdom, France, Monaco, Switzerland, and Luxembourg. Within those markets we are most active on residential, prime mixed-use, and trophy assets in established locations — central London, Paris intra-muros, the Côte d'Azur and Monaco, Geneva and the Lake Geneva arc, and Luxembourg City. We do not cover emerging markets, secondary regional assets, or operational hospitality at scale. Cross-border structures involving HNW or UHNW principals — for example a French SCI held through a Luxembourg holding — are part of normal flow.

Question 5

How long does it take to arrange a bridge facility?

Accepted Answer

From a complete information pack to drawdown, a straightforward bridge in our core jurisdictions can typically complete in four to eight weeks, with the critical path usually sitting on legal due diligence and security perfection rather than credit. Faster closings are possible where the asset is clean, the borrower is already KYC'd with the chosen lender, and local counsel is mobilised early. Development finance and cross-border structures take longer — eight to sixteen weeks is a more realistic guide. We give a candid timing view at the outset; we do not quote indicative closings we cannot defend.

Question 6

How does Passy Partners charge?

Accepted Answer

Our fees are paid on completion, by the borrower, and are agreed in writing before we begin work. We do not charge upfront retainers or origination fees, and we are not remunerated by lenders, which keeps the lender selection genuinely independent. The fee is typically expressed as a percentage of the facility amount and reflects deal size, complexity, and jurisdiction; smaller or more complex transactions sit at a higher percentage than larger, vanilla ones. Third-party costs — valuation, legal, QS, tax — are borne by the borrower directly and paid to those advisers, not through us.

Bridge &
Development Capital

Bridge Loans

Development Finance

Five European
Jurisdictions.