Bridge Facility vs Bridge Loan: When Staged Drawdowns Change the Deal

You are not buying one asset on one completion date. You are running a programme: two or three purchases over six to twelve months, capex that invoices in stages, or a finished scheme that still needs a last slice of capital.

A single-draw loan puts the full sum in your account on day one. Interest then runs on cash you will not spend for months. That is a poor match for a staged timetable.

The question behind a bridge facility is structural. Do you need one advance, or a committed line you can draw in tranches against a rolling security position?

How a Bridge Facility Differs from a Single Draw

The charge is usually identical. First-ranking security over the asset, often held in an SPV. What changes is when cash leaves the lender, and when interest starts.

A bridge loan is one advance. You complete, you draw the full sum, and the clock runs on every dollar or pound from that day. That is the right shape when the entire price is due on one date.

A bridge facility sets a committed ceiling and an availability period. You draw against a completion, an invoice, or a valuation checkpoint. The undrawn remainder stays available. Whether interest runs only on drawn amounts, with a non-utilisation fee on the undrawn balance, is considered case by case, subject to terms.

What You Actually Pay: Drawn Interest, Fees and Sizing

Private lenders size two numbers on a facility, not one. Peak drawn LTV, tested as if later tranches land, and the committed maximum. That is why the ceiling can sit below what the same asset would support as a one-shot loan.

Singapore banks run property borrowing through the TDSR framework; we are not a bank, and in both markets we underwrite the asset and the exit rather than an income statement.

On a UK portfolio, each completion can trigger Stamp Duty Land Tax, which the borrower funds separately: the facility does not cover it, so plan that cash alongside the draw schedule. The same discipline applies to sequential Singapore purchases.

Compare rate, fees and retention together before you choose a facility over a single draw. Some committed lines also carry a non-utilisation fee on the undrawn balance, and that belongs on the term sheet.

When Staged Drawdowns Are the Wrong Tool

If the whole sum is due next month on one completion, a facility adds process without saving interest. Take the single draw, perfect the charge, and keep the documents simple.

If the exit is vague, neither structure saves you. A 3–24 month tenor does not forgive a sale with no buyer, no refinance path, and no contracted completion.

The main risk on a facility is operational: a later valuation comes in light, a condition precedent is missed, and the tranche you were counting on is cut. You still owe what you have already drawn, with rolled-up interest, at maturity.

Short money is also the wrong tool when you actually need a five-year term loan. Use it to hit a date. Do not use it to sit on an asset.

How First-Charge Facilities Are Underwritten

Rikvin Capital is a direct private lender operating in Singapore and the UK, lending on a first charge. In Singapore we lend to accredited investors and corporates, including SPVs. We look at the same file we would for a one-shot loan, then we add the draw schedule.

Staged drawdowns are available on suitable deals, subject to terms. They are not a standard feature bolted onto every loan, so raise the phasing at the first conversation rather than after a term sheet is out. Eligible security is completed property in those two markets: residences, commercial stock, hotels, and development exits where the build is finished and the remaining spend is known.

For a landed Singapore programme, start with the title you already control. A GCB bridging loan against that asset can sit as the first charge while later lots are still under negotiation. For a UK scheme that needs a last slice after practical completion, developer-exit bridging is the closer analogue: one commitment and repayment from sales, with funding for remaining works in tranches considered case by case, subject to terms.

The first draw follows our usual process: KYC, source of funds, valuation, and a Report on Title or equivalent. Each later tranche carries its own conditions precedent, and those are set in the facility documents.

Related: the £18.8 million facility we placed on a West London hotel was sized to the asset and a defined repayment path, not to a projected income statement.

Indicative range remains $1M – $100M in Singapore and £1M – £100M in the UK, LTV up to 70% and 75% respectively, tenor 3–24 months. Nothing here is an offer. Terms are subject to valuation and due diligence.