Property Investment Platform British Pearl Seeks £800,000 on Seedrs

British Pearl, a property investment platform that promises to provide “hassle-free property investment” is seeking £800,000 on Seedrs.

The offering is for a 3.38% equity stake at a pre-money valuation of £22.8 million.  As it stands today, 141 investors have committed £641,503 to the crowdfunded offering (average of ~ £4550 each).

British Pearl is a Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) regulated platform founded by Ali Celiker who previously worked in traditional finance.  Celiker previously was Vice President, Head European Financing Trader at Paloma Securities London Limited and Associate Director, Interest rates sales trader at Mitsubishi UFJ Securities International plc.

British Pearl provides access to both debt and equity investment opportunities (dividends & profit share). If you invest, your exit is not just predicated on a sale of a property – which may be up to 5 years, but the platform also operates a secondary market of the crowdfunded securities thus providing a liquidity opportunity for investors seeking an earlier exit. The “automated Resale Market” was launched this past July.

IFISAs are also available for investors looking for a retirement investment.

For debt-based offerings, loans are offered net of fees and may provide a good alternative to parking your money in a savings account. Current rates range from around 3.75% to 4.40%. Equity offerings, a higher risk investment, currently return 6.25% to 13.39%.

There are plenty of solid property crowdfunding platforms in the UK so how is British Pearl different?

In a blog post, British Pearl explains:

“British Pearl is different. We are not a P2P intermediary. Instead, on the British Pearl platform, the borrower is an SPV that holds an individual property investment that we manage as an FCA regulated Alternative Investment Fund Manager. We source, secure and manage properties on behalf of our investors. Our Loan Investors are only exposed to the credit/counterparty risk of that vehicle, which is managed by British Pearl, which is operated by property and investment professionals with a successful track record. There is no third party – such as a developer on the receiving side of the loan – and the Loan Investor benefits from a first charge over the property. British Pearl has a direct relationship with all our Loan Investors and, as a result, is highly incentivised to ensure all investments follow a strict due diligence process that clearly details all risks and the full financial projection over the investment term … The safest [loan] is a ‘first charge’ secured against the underlying security – this is what British Pearl offers.”

The platform reports that, to date, all payments have been made and the company has experienced zero defaults.

Property crowdfunding platforms have emerged as a solid model for digital finance – one that can provide superior risk-adjusted returns. Platforms like British Pearl remove a good number of hurdles to accessing an asset class previously unattainable.