From Unloved Offices To High-Quality & Sustainable Apartments: Elfi’s €125m Financing Journey with Sustainable Capital Group 

Discover how Elfi, a Dutch residential real estate brand, partnered with Sustainable Capital Group (SCG) to secure €125 million financing for their highly-sustainable and customer-centric office-to-residential strategy in the Netherlands. Find out how Elfi’s commitment to sustainability was rewarded with a discount on their loan through the Dutch RVO scheme!

About Elfi 

Elfi is the first Dutch residential real estate brand and proptech platform with sustainability and customer-centricity at its core, providing high-quality rental housing at reasonable market rents. Elfi’s strategy is to acquire and develop 15,000 residential apartments in the next 5-7 years in the Randstad region, and build a market-leading real estate and proptech platform.

Goal: More energy-efficient homes in the Netherlands  

In 2019, Elfi embarked on a highly-sustainable office-to-residential strategy in the Randstad region of the Netherlands. Their goal: to (re)develop old and unloved office buildings into high-quality and energy-efficient rental homes, with a focus on enhancing the tenant’s quality of life whilst charging reasonable market rents.

The challenge: Balancing funding needs and regulation 

Elfi’s key challenge was to find a financier with appetite to provide portfolio financing for projects that had not yet secured the correct zoning or permitting.

Scope of work Sustainable Capital Group 

With SCG on board, we tackled the following:

• Financing Strategy: SCG developed a comprehensive financing strategy tailored to Elfi’s unique needs and growth objectives.
• Financial Modelling: A detailed financial model was created, along with marketing materials like an Investment Memorandum (IM) and Teaser, showcasing the potential of the projects from a financial and sustainability perspective.
• Investor Outreach: SCG pitched the financing opportunity to several potential investors and negotiated favourable terms to secure the necessary funding.
• Transaction Management: Throughout the process, SCG provided expert transaction management, coordinating with third parties to ensure a smooth and timely closing.

Outcome: Successfully raised €125m of senior financing 

SCG successfully closed €125 million in senior financing with ABN AMRO structured across three separate facilities: Pre-Development, Construction, and Investment. As each project progressed through the facilities, the interest margin decreased to reflect the lower risk profile. Additionally, Elfi’s strong commitment to delivering sustainable buildings unlocked a green loan discount on the Construction and Investment facilities.

Read more about green loans and sustainability discounts in our blog about sustainability-linked loans. 

What the client says about us 

Jasper de Rooij, Founder & Managing Director of Elfi, praised SCG’s pivotal role in securing capital and enabling the growth of their housing platform. He highlighted SCG’s proactive, hardworking, and friendly team, emphasising their seamless integration into Elfi’s operations:

“SCG has played a pivotal role in securing capital for Elfi and enabling the growth of our housing platform. Over the past two years, they have not only helped us to raise the necessary capital, but also provided valuable guidance on implementing new processes into our operations as we grow our platform.”