Five-year facility supports the next phase of Grace’s 832-unit Northern Portfolio strategy
Shawbrook has completed a £60.5m, five-year interest-only senior facility for Grace Real Estate Partners, refinancing its 832-unit Northern Portfolio and supporting the next phase of its investment and asset management strategy. The transaction represents the largest facility completed by Shawbrook to date.
The facility is secured across a residential portfolio in Newcastle and the wider North East. It provides Grace with a long-term capital structure as it continues to optimise income, invest in the quality and energy efficiency of the assets, and capture further rental and operational upside.
Grace, a UK-focused real estate investment and asset management firm, entered the Newcastle market in 2023 with the acquisition of a 478-unit residential portfolio. In June 2025, it acquired a further 354 self-contained studios across three freehold buildings in central Newcastle, creating a residential cluster of 832 units.
Following the execution of its value-add strategy, Grace sought to refinance the portfolio’s existing debt and move the assets beyond the acquisition and initial value-creation phase into a period of continued optimisation and income growth.
Since acquisition, the portfolio has achieved a c.22% uplift in value over aggregate acquisition value, supported by rental growth, targeted capital expenditure, improved occupancy and the professionalisation of operations. Grace’s modernisation and energy-efficiency programme has also been delivered on time and below budget to date.
Shawbrook’s Structured Real Estate team worked closely with Grace to understand the portfolio’s income performance, its vertically integrated operating platform and its wider business plan. The resulting facility was structured to align with the established income profile of the assets and support continued investment across the portfolio.
Tirath Singh, Head of Structured Real Estate at Shawbrook:
“We are delighted to support Grace with this significant refinancing. The portfolio’s strong performance reflects targeted investment and active management. By understanding the assets and wider business plan, we provided a flexible, long-term facility to support the next phase.”
Georges Tohme, Founding Director at Grace Real Estate Partners:
“Shawbrook and their professional and dedicated team engaged with both the portfolio and our wider business plan from the outset, and that understanding was central to delivering a transaction of this scale with certainty. Since our initial investment in Newcastle in 2023, we have built significant operational scale, strengthened income performance and continued to invest in the quality and energy efficiency of the assets. The new facility provides an appropriate long-term capital structure for the next phase of our business plan. We are thrilled with the outcome of this refinancing.”
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