MERA Investment Management
A family-office-backed commercial real estate lender writing senior loans from £1m to £50m, smaller bridging from £500k, and preferred equity or joint-venture capital of £5m to £15m.
What they do
MERA lends private and family-office capital against commercial real estate, structured as senior bridging and senior loans, a smaller bridging line under a separate sub-brand, or preferred equity and joint-venture capital where a sponsor needs more than debt. Leverage caps at 75 per cent on residential and 65 to 70 per cent on commercial, with up to 90 per cent of project costs, and the firm requires an experienced borrower and a strong exit on every case.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Being able to provide senior debt and preferred equity from the same house solves a real problem for a sponsor whose scheme is short of equity rather than short of debt. The senior range covers a whole £3–15m property requirement, and family-office capital behind it means fewer external constraints on what can be structured.
Where they are not the fit
Planning risk is excluded, as is heavy infrastructure development. Property security is required and an inexperienced borrower will not be funded. Preferred equity is not debt and carries a different cost and control profile, which should be understood before it is treated as a funding line.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Sponsor-backed borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed August 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
MERA Investment Management lends through 3 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether MERA Investment Management lends, but which of these would own it.
Senior CRE bridging / senior loan
- Facility
- £1m to £50m
- Security
- First charge over UK property (residential or commercial)
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- No planning risk; No heavy development (dams, airports, oil refineries); Property security required; Loan to value cap 75% residential or 65-70% commercial
MERA capital small bridging
- Facility
- £500k to £5m
- Security
- First charge over UK property
- Funds
- Acquisition · Refinance
- Rules out
- No planning risk; No heavy development; Property security required; Loan to value cap 75% residential or 65% commercial
Preferred equity / joint venture
- Facility
- £5m to £15m
- Security
- Equity stake in UK property development or JV structure
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Experienced developer required; Clear value-creation thesis required; Defined exit strategy required (2-3 year horizon); No planning-only risk plays
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from MERA Investment Management’s own published criteria, beyond the ones each desk carries above. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- LTC cap 90% of project costs
- Experienced borrower required
- Strong exit strategy required
- No appetite in heavy-development or planning-risk
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling of £50m is among the 12 highest of the 75 property-backed lenders here.
- It lends through 3 distinct desks, where most firms here run one or two.
Counted across the 75 property-backed lenders in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does MERA Investment Management write?
Published facilities run £500k to £50m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
What does MERA Investment Management lend?
The published product set is senior cre bridging / senior loan, mera capital small bridging, preferred equity / joint venture. Published sector focus is alternative-real-estate, commercial-property, development, hospitality, industrial.
Sources
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.