Avenue Capital Group acquires stake in Castlehaven Finance

LONDON, Aug. 23, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Avenue Capital Group, a global investment firm, has agreed to acquire the entirety of Pollen Street Capital's interest in the Irish development and bridging finance lending platform, Castlehaven Finance, for an amount in excess of €250 million. The transaction will result in Pollen Street Capital, the independent alternative asset investment management company, exiting its investment in Castlehaven Finance, which it has held through its credit lending arms, P2P Global Investments PLC and Honeycomb Investment Trust PLC.   

Castlehaven Finance was founded in response to the need for an alternative lender in the residential development market as the Irish housing market began to recover in 2014 and has provided over €580 million in finance to developers since inception. 

Since partnering with Pollen Street Capital in 2016, Pollen Street Capital has provided financing to Castlehaven Finance in excess of €385 million and Castlehaven Finance has grown to providing funding nationwide and is now one of the top development and bridging finance lenders in Ireland. Castlehaven is on course to complete over €300 million in lending in 2019, including major projects such as a residential development of 74 new homes at Chapel Road in Delganey for Patrick Durkan's development entity DRES and a 149 bedroom hotel on James Street for The Dublin Loft company owned by Mark, Andrew and Kelly Cosgrave. 

Avenue Capital will acquire the existing Castlehaven Finance Portfolio from Pollen Street Capital and will provide future funding lines to allow the Castlehaven platform to continue to grow.   

Clark McCann, Co-founder of Castlehaven Finance, commented:  "Having established ourselves in the new homes market we look forward to working alongside Avenue as we look to grow into the PRS and commercial development market. Our emphasis on speed, transparency, and reliability will continue as we strive to provide the best service for our clients."

"We thank Pollen Street Capital for their partnership and support over the last three years," says CH Partner Will Aylmer. "The new partnership with Avenue allows us to continue to scale up. We'll be increasing volume and providing new opportunities to current clients, along with developers we've never worked with before."

Lindsey McMurray, Managing Partner of Pollen Street Capital, said: "We have had a successful relationship with Castlehaven Finance, provided them with a significant amount of financing and have been delighted with the development of the business since the beginning of our partnership in 2016.  We are happy to have contributed to the Company's growth and wish the team every continued success."

Enquiries:

Castlehaven Finance:
Eoin Kennedy, +353 86 8339540
Will Aylmer, Castlehaven Finance

Pollen Street Capital:
Ed Gascoigne-Pees – 020 3757 4993, ed.gascoigne-pees@camarco.co.uk
Jennifer Renwick – 020 3757 4994, jennifer.renwick@camarco.co.uk 

Avenue Capital Group:
Todd Fogarty, +1 212 521 4854
todd.fogarty@kekstcnc.com

Notes to Editors

About Castlehaven Finance
With offices in Dublin and Cork, Castlehaven Finance is an alternative lender funding property development in Ireland.  Since its establishment in 2014 it has lent €584.4 million to fund 118 residential and commercial development projects through its Senior Development Loans and Bridging Finance services.  The company offers 90% loan-to-cost for lending on residential, commercial, and mixed-use developments with terms of up to 24 months on its bridging finance. Employing 15 people headed up by Will Aylmer and Clark McCann, the company positions itself on rapid loan approvals.

About Pollen Street Capital
Pollen Street Capital is an independent alternative asset investment management company focused on the financial and business services sectors, with significant experience in specialty finance. It was established in 2013 and now manages c £2.7 billion gross AUM across private equity and credit strategies on behalf of investors including leading pension funds, asset manager, banks and family offices from around the world.  Pollen Street Capital has a team of 70+ professionals with offices in London and New York.

About Avenue Capital Group
Avenue Capital Group is a global investment firm that focuses on private and public debt, equity and real estate markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia. As of July 31, 2019, Avenue manages assets estimated to be approximately $10.3 billion on behalf of a sophisticated global base of institutional investors including pension funds, family offices, foundations, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds. Avenue was founded in 1995. For more information, visit https://www.avenuecapital.com.

SOURCE Avenue Capital Group