832-unit Northern Portfolio refinanced following c.22% valuation uplift
Newcastle | September 2026
Refinancing follows execution of Grace’s value-creation strategy and a c.22% uplift in portfolio value since acquisition.
Ailon’s joint venture, Grace Real Estate Partners (“Grace”), has completed the refinancing of its Northern Portfolio with Shawbrook Bank Limited.
Grace entered the Newcastle market in 2023 with the acquisition of a 478-unit residential portfolio. In June 2025, it expanded the platform through the acquisition of a further 354 self-contained studios across three freehold buildings in central Newcastle, creating an 832-unit residential cluster with significant operating scale. The combined portfolio has since achieved a c.22% uplift in value, reflecting rental growth, targeted capital expenditure, improved occupancy and the professionalisation of operations.
The new senior financing replaces the portfolio’s acquisition facilities and establishes a longer-term capital structure aligned with the next phase of Grace’s business plan.
“The refinancing marks an important milestone for the Northern Portfolio. Since our initial investment in Newcastle in 2023, we have built significant operational scale, strengthened income performance and continued to invest in the quality and energy efficiency of the assets. The new financing provides an appropriate long-term capital structure for the next phase of the business plan,” said Georges Tohme, Founding Director at Grace.
Selected value creation since acquisition
- Creation of an 832-unit residential cluster across Newcastle and the wider North East
- Achievement of a c.22% uplift in portfolio value since acquisition
- Delivery of targeted modernisation and energy-efficiency initiatives, on time and below budget to date
- Improved occupancy and rental performance following operational integration
- Integration and professionalisation of property management, leasing and operational processes through Grace’s vertically integrated operating platform
Together, these initiatives have strengthened income quality and operating performance while preserving further embedded upside across the portfolio.
The refinancing marks the transition from acquisition and initial repositioning into the next phase of portfolio optimisation. Grace remains focused on rental performance, occupancy, targeted asset enhancements and the remaining embedded income and operational upside. The transaction also broadens Grace’s institutional lending relationships, following the refinancing of its Central London Trinity Portfolio with Qatar Islamic Bank (UK) plc in 2025.
The transaction reflects Grace’s broader UK Living strategy: acquiring residential assets with strong underlying fundamentals, applying active asset management and operational improvement to grow income, and optimising the capital structure as value is established.
Grace continues to evaluate residential investment opportunities across Greater London, commuter markets and selected regional cities as it grows its UK residential platform.
