Where the standard products run out.
Equity and preferred equity, stabilisation facilities, and capital raises above £20m. These are structured mandates rather than products off a shelf, and they are arranged rather than quoted. Here is what each one is, when it is the right instrument, and what we need from you.
By Dominic Whitecross, Co-Founder, HyLend. Last reviewed July 2026.
Equity and preferred equity
Where senior debt and your own cash do not reach the total requirement, the gap can be filled with debt or with equity, and the choice is not primarily about cost.
Mezzanine is subordinated debt: it sits behind the senior lender, carries a higher rate, and is still debt with a defined return. Covered separately under mezzanine finance.
Preferred equity sits between mezzanine and ordinary equity. It takes a priority return ahead of your own equity but ranks behind all debt, and it does not usually carry a fixed repayment date in the way debt does. That makes it useful where the timing of the exit is uncertain.
Joint venture equity is a partner taking a share of profit rather than a return on capital. It costs the most in a successful outcome and the least in an unsuccessful one, which is precisely the point.
Two things decide which is right, and neither is the headline cost. First, what your senior lender will accept: senior lenders impose minimum sponsor equity and maintain views on what sits behind them, and brokers routinely waste weeks sourcing junior capital the senior will not approve. Second, the intercreditor position: standstill periods, cure rights and step in rights, and the two to four weeks negotiating a deed of priority adds to the timetable. That documentation is where these deals slow down, not the term sheet.
Stabilisation facilities
An asset that is built but not yet performing cannot support a term facility, because a term lender lends against proven income and there is not yet any income to prove.
A stabilisation facility bridges that gap. It funds the asset through the letting and income building period so that, once occupancy and rent roll are evidenced, a term lender has something to underwrite. It is most common on newly completed developments, on repositioned assets where the tenant mix is changing, and on operating businesses where trading performance has to be established before a lender will price off it.
The structural point is that the facility term must accommodate the letting period realistically, not optimistically. An asset that takes twelve months to stabilise and a facility written for nine creates a problem that costs considerably more to solve than the extra three months would have cost to arrange.
Related: extend, bridge or refinance covers the decision framework in full.
Large capital raises, £20m and above
Above roughly £20m the process changes character. It is no longer an application to a lender; it is a structured raise, often across multiple parties, with a club or syndicate rather than a single funder, and with a documentation timetable measured in months rather than weeks.
We arrange these for property, infrastructure, energy and other large scale schemes in the UK and internationally. What matters at this size is not access to a rate sheet but knowing which capital sources are genuinely active in that sector at that moment, how they will want the structure arranged, and what will and will not clear their credit process.
Practically, expect a longer diligence period, a heavier information requirement, and a real premium on presenting the case properly at the outset. Sponsors who arrive with a complete picture, including the parts that are not going to plan, run materially better processes than those who do not.
How we work on specialist mandates
These are arranged, not quoted. There is no calculator for a £40m structured raise, and any adviser offering an instant number for one is guessing. The first conversation is about whether the structure is achievable and what it would realistically take.
We will tell you early if it is not placeable. Some structures are genuinely difficult and some sit outside current appetite entirely. Finding that out after professional fees have been incurred helps nobody.
Bring the whole picture. Including the awkward parts. We can structure around a problem disclosed at the outset and considerably less around one discovered in diligence.
£100k to £100m across every sector and property type, throughout the UK and Europe, with larger international mandates considered on their merits.
On complex assets, the valuation basis is the deal
Structured and specialist transactions almost always turn on how the security is valued rather than on how it is priced. Trading assets are valued on fair maintainable trade as an operating entity, with a vacant possession figure alongside that can sit far below it. Investment assets are valued on yield, where covenant and unexpired term dominate. Land is valued on consent. In each case a lender may size against the conservative figure rather than market value.
That is why we settle basis of value early on complex cases, before anyone pays for a report. It is routinely worth more to the outcome than the rate. The full valuations guide →
Timelines on structured transactions
Four to twelve weeks depending on what the structure actually is. A stabilisation facility on a completed asset can move at bridging speed. An equity or preferred equity arrangement, or a large capital raise involving multiple parties, takes considerably longer because documentation and intercreditor arrangements are negotiated rather than issued.
The reliable predictor is not the size of the transaction but the number of parties who have to agree with each other. The honest bridging timeline →
Specialist Finance FAQs
What is preferred equity and how does it differ from mezzanine?
Mezzanine is subordinated debt: it ranks behind the senior lender, carries a higher rate, and remains debt with a defined return and repayment date. Preferred equity sits between mezzanine and ordinary equity, taking a priority return ahead of the sponsor's equity but ranking behind all debt, and it does not usually carry a fixed repayment date. That makes preferred equity more useful where the timing of the exit is uncertain, and mezzanine more useful where it is not.
What is a stabilisation facility?
A facility that funds a completed but not yet performing asset through its letting and income building period, so that a term lender has proven income to underwrite once occupancy and rent roll are established. It is most common on newly completed developments, repositioned assets with a changing tenant mix, and operating businesses where trading performance must be established first. The critical structuring point is that the term must reflect a realistic letting period rather than an optimistic one.
Do you arrange capital raises above £20m?
Yes. Above roughly £20m the process changes character: it becomes a structured raise rather than an application, often involving a club or syndicate rather than a single lender, with a documentation timetable measured in months. What matters at that size is knowing which capital sources are genuinely active in the sector at that moment and how they want the structure arranged, rather than access to a rate sheet.
Why does junior capital take longer to arrange than senior debt?
The documentation, not the term sheet. Where junior capital sits behind senior debt, the parties must agree an intercreditor arrangement or deed of priority covering standstill periods, cure rights and step in rights, which commonly adds two to four weeks. Senior lenders also maintain views on what ranks behind them, so junior capital the senior will not approve is wasted effort however attractive its terms.