As I sit here writing this in early December, it’s hard to believe that it’s only been a little over seven months since we launched Tenn Capital. I sometimes forget that Tenn is still technically a start-up. We’ve got such great experience in the team that we often feel like a more established company.
Looking back over the year, it’s pretty clear that there have been three fairly distinct phases of the business. The first phase of Tenn was building the infrastructure. Anyone who has ever started a business will recognise the importance of putting proper groundwork in place. A lot of time was spent writing policies, procedures, manuals, applications and opening accounts. We wanted to get to what we do best: lending. However, putting solid and scalable processes and systems in place was a non-negotiable, especially with regards to AML and KYC, where we want to excel. Looking back, spending time and effort getting the very best infrastructure in place was time well invested.
After the summer, we were getting real traction, and things sped up even more when we announced a funding line of $300 million and joint venture with funds advised by Elliott Advisors (UK) Limited. We are incredibly proud to be working with Elliott. During this period, we also started to ramp up in terms of deal flow and geographic spread. One of the best things about Tenn is that we are interested in prime residential real estate, wherever it may be. This means we get to see some fantastic properties all over the world.
Best of all, Tenn is now doing exactly what we hoped it would by executing offering high-value loans, working in cross-border deals, lending against international property and creating solutions. Around a third of our deals are made up of cases where a client wants to buy property. The other two-thirds of our enquiries are borrowers looking to solve a problem or create liquidity to take advantage of an opportunity. December saw us hit over £1 billion in inquiries with an average loan amount of £3 million and an average property value that sits at around £10 million.
Tenn has emerged from its first few months in a really strong position. We still have many challenges to face, but we will face them with an amazing team. At Tenn, we want to work exclusively with brilliant people. From Nigel, Hugh & Islay to the team that run the business on a day-to-day basis, we are incredibly optimistic about where Tenn is going. And from all of us at Tenn, I hope you have a fantastic break over the holiday period and wish you a healthy and prosperous 2022.