About us

Inception

Zorin Finance is founded by Luke Townsend to provide stretched senior refurbishment and development loans to UK SME house builders, following the retrenchment of high street banks in the wake of the GFC.

Incubation

Sir John Beckwith and family become 50% shareholders, doubling funds under management and providing real estate and capital markets expertise. The business incubates in the Pacific Investments office at 124 Sloane Street.

Instituional capital

Zorin closes its first round of institutional capital raising with P2PGI, a UK closed-ended investment trust listed on the London Stock Exchange, and a pioneer in the alternative lending space.

Phase 1 expansion

Zorin’s lending capability dramatically increases, enabling it to expand nationally and fund larger developments. Its average loan size increases from £1m to £4m and it passes £100m of cumulative lending. 

Fleeing the nest

Zorin moves offices to 1 Knightsbridge Green in order to accommodate its growing workforce and reaches £300m of cumulative lending.

Funding diversification

Zorin Finance receives a funding commitment of up to £200m from funds managed by Avenue Capital Group, a specialist private credit investor with approximately $9 billion in assets under management.

Sale

Avenue Capital Group acquire Zorin Finance Limited. Luke Townsend retains a shareholding and transitions the business under its new ownership. Avenue’s investment turbo-charges the business.

Phase 2 expansion

Zorin Finance begins providing investment loans as high street banks pull back from lending during Covid. The product is positioned as transitional in nature, allowing real estate investors to stabilise assets overlooked by banks due to lower WAULTs, capex requirements, occupancy levels or limited trading history.

Lending milestone

Zorin passes £1 billion in cumulative lending.

Lending milestone

Zorin passes £2 billion in cumulative lending.

Portfolio milestone

Zorin moves offices to St James’s Park. 10 years after its first institutional capital raise and many awards later, Zorin’s outstanding balances surpass £1 billion. 

Phase 3 expansion

Zorin expands into Europe and in particular The Netherlands, which it identifies as having similar structural challenges and opportunities as the UK. It provides the same products and standard of service that have underpinned the success of the UK business over the past 15 years.