Crowdfunding platform Downing Crowd seeks to raise £1.82m for Oakman Inns acquisition

Downing Crowd, the London-based crowdfunding platform, is seeking to raise £1.82m to support Oakman Bedfordshire Holdings in relation to the acquisition of The White Hart.

The White Hart, based in Ampthill Bedfordshire, is a a pub restaurant property which is leased to Oakman Inns and Restaurants.

Downing Crowd is part of Downing LLP, an FCA authorised and regulated investment manager with over 25 years of experience, 35,000 investors and in excess of £950m of funds under management.

The platform already has an established relationship with Oakman Inns and Restaurants, having raised almost £10m worth of funds for its pub restaurants.

The White Hart has been operated by Oakman since April 2015 on a leasehold basis. The £1.82m bond is intended to repay part of a finance package which was used to acquire the freehold for The White Hart.

The property and land for the site, subject to the current lease to Oakman Inns and Restaurants, has been valued at £2.6m.

The White Hart Pub asset-backed Crowd Bond offers investors the opportunity to earn 7% p.a. interest over a period of up to 23 months. The Bond will take a first charge over the site, which means that Downing will be given priority over other lenders should the borrower default.

The Downing Crowd platform offers Crowd Bonds, a type of debt-based crowdfunding that enables companies to raise capital to support their growth plans. Crowd Bonds work by allowing people to lend to a business via bonds that can be secured against the firm’s operational assets, which is aimed to help reduce risk for the end investor in the event of default.

Peter Borg-Neal, founder and CEO of Oakman Inns and director of Oakman Bedfordshire Holdings Limited, commented: “Crowdfunding investors have provided invaluable debt funding support for a number of our freehold pubs.

“We’re delighted to be working with Downing Crowd again on this latest project. The White Hart is a superb property that boasts a variety of warm, friendly spaces for like-minded individuals to meet over quality food and drink as well as a function room and eight bedrooms.

“It has considerable potential for further development and we are very pleased to have acquired such a high-quality freehold in what is clearly a good location.”

Oakman currently operates 21 trading pubs located across the Home Counties and Midlands.