Maven secured a £4.6m funding package for the redevelopment of the former Clarence Hotel in Llandudno, North Wales, into an 82-bedroomed Travelodge, using the valuable tax benefit available via the Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA) scheme to offer investors a highly tax-efficient investment opportunity.
Work started on the site in July, with the development due to open in early 2014, and will see the hotel retain its historic façade whilst being fully modernised internally.
BPRA, which was introduced in 2007 and remains in force until at least April 2017, is available for refurbishing empty commercial properties in qualifying areas - offering an initial allowance against the costs incurred on or in connection with the renovation.
Alongside VCT and EIS investment, BPRA offers an attractive but relatively little known tax-planning opportunity and, with the right investment structure and a high quality underlying investment, can provide significant tax savings for higher rate income tax payers. Maven will continue to look for opportunities in this space for our investors.
Although Llandudno represents Maven’s first BPRA investment, Ramsay Duff, who led the deal, has previously secured BPRA funding for a number of projects including the Indigo Hotel in Glasgow.
Bill Nixon, Maven’s Managing Partner, said “I am delighted that we were able to package and complete this transaction within a short timetable, utilising some innovative ideas to present a compelling deal to our investors. We are working on a number of new deals and look forward to offering further structured, tax-efficient investment opportunities to investors”.