The borrower’s dossier
Deal box · EUR 1M to 1bn · 6 to 72 months
Footprint · EU · CH · UK
From enquiry to indicative terms.
Enquire
Send the project, the asset, the amount and term sought, and the intended exit. A short brief is enough to begin.
Qualify
A principal reads the brief, checks it against the deal box, and follows up on anything missing.
Structure
The underwriting committee sets the security, the mortgage, the guarantees, and the order of disbursement.
Terms
You receive indicative terms in writing, with the structure already agreed rather than assembled after the fact.
Structured around your project.
See our approachEvery facility carries security: a first-rank mortgage, a personal guarantee, a bank guarantee, or a combination set per deal.
Facilities run months to a few years, and each one is underwritten to a clear, pre-agreed exit.
The partner who takes on your file structures it and stays with it to closing, so every question goes straight to the person setting your terms.
Watson AM provides short to mid-term financing, most often for real estate and hospitality projects across Europe. All projects must be asset-backed to ensure proper security to our investors.
All facilities are agreed in full before terms are issued, so you see the structure and the exit before you commit. After which we reach out to our network of lenders to find the requested capital.
Six ways to structure the facility.
Short-term capital that closes a purchase or refinancing quickly, used while longer-term financing, a sale, or another facility is being arranged. Typically the fastest structure to underwrite, since the exit is often already contracted or well advanced, and the facility runs for months rather than years.
Facilities drawn down against progress on a ground-up build or a phased development, so capital is released as the works advance. Drawdowns are tied to inspection or quantity-surveyor sign-off at each stage, keeping exposure matched to what has actually been built rather than what is planned.
Funding to purchase land, a plot ahead of development, or a standing asset, typically drawn at completion to secure the site or the building. Used on its own to close a purchase quickly, or as the first stage of a facility that later converts to development finance once permits are in hand.
Replacing an existing facility with new terms, whether to release equity, extend the timeline, or move ahead of a maturity. Common where a project has de-risked since the original facility was arranged, a valuation has moved, or a sponsor wants to consolidate several facilities into one.
Facilities for renovation, restoration, or other value-add works on an asset already owned, sized against the uplift the works are expected to create. Covers everything from a single conversion to a full restoration of older or listed stock, with drawdowns released against the works completed.
Subordinated capital that sits behind a senior facility in the capital stack, letting a sponsor reduce the equity they put into a deal. Priced for the additional risk it carries relative to the senior tranche, with the security package and repayment order agreed with the senior lender up front.
What we finance.
A wide asset mix, each project judged on the underlying opportunity and the security behind it.
Hospitality and resort
Hotels to alpine resorts
Multi-unit residential
Apartments and townhouses
Villas and single residences
Purchase, restoration, new-build
Land and development sites
Plots ahead of a ground-up build
Heritage and restoration stock
Brought back to standard
Student and senior living
Operational, demand-led
The categories we see most often, rather than a limit on what we'll consider.
The file with few places to go.
Some files arrive only after others have passed. In Geneva, a development the sponsor had chased for close to two years closed once its communal and internal issues were untangled. An Oslo restoration, turned away through conventional channels, funded once its ownership and paper trail were sorted and presented properly. Both are in the case files, with LTV, term and outcome on record.
A complicated file often has few credible homes: a tangled ownership trail, communal issues to resolve, an unusually long term, or several jurisdictions in a single deal, and most lenders pass. Watson AM reads the file on its merits and structures the facility around it.
Why borrowers choose Watson AM.
Terms that hold, from indicative to drawdown.
Before you send us anything, you can read the nine-step diligence process in full, from the legal review through to the notarial registration of the security. Complicated ownership trails and cross-border paperwork are what we structure for, so a project that stalled elsewhere is often still a project worth underwriting.
Where a file doesn’t work, you hear it in days, and you hear the reason. We would rather turn a project down in the first week than keep a developer waiting a quarter for an answer that was never coming.
Borrower questions.
How quickly can Watson AM issue indicative terms?
Indicative terms are usually in hand within 72 hours of a complete enquiry. A principal reviews the brief and follows up on any gaps within 24 hours, and the underwriting committee convenes within 48 hours. The speed comes from a diligence framework that is in place before any deal arrives, so those 72 hours go on running checks that already exist.
What size and type of deals does Watson AM finance?
We arrange short to mid-term facilities for real estate, with a deal box of EUR 1M to EUR 1bn, across development, construction, acquisition, renovation, and refinancing. Borrowers are typically developers and hospitality operators with strong assets and a clear exit.
What does Watson AM need from a borrower to start?
A short brief: the project, the asset, the amount and term sought, the sponsor's track record, and the intended exit. We read the documentation that moves the deal forward and follow up on anything missing, rather than asking for a full data room up front.
What security will Watson AM take?
Security is set per deal. Most facilities are secured by a first-rank mortgage registered before disbursement, and we push for a personal guarantee from the sponsor and/or a bank guarantee where the deal supports it. The structure is agreed with you before terms are issued.