Plain answers on European real estate capital — what is achievable, what things cost, and what to do when the refinancing does not reach.
Dry Capital provides and arranges preferred equity for sponsors across Europe, alongside senior debt, whole loans, mezzanine and co-investment. It is a principal capital and recapitalisation platform, founded in 2025, based in Brussels with coverage across Benelux, Iberia and Germany. Typical situations are sponsors who need capital above the senior loan without selling the asset or diluting themselves at a bad valuation.
A recapitalisation restructures the capital already in a property rather than selling it. New money comes in — usually as preferred equity, mezzanine or a replacement senior loan — to repay a maturing facility, close a refinancing shortfall, fund capex, or buy out an existing partner. The sponsor keeps the asset and, in most structures, keeps control.
Four, broadly. Inject fresh sponsor equity. Raise junior capital — preferred equity or mezzanine — to bridge the gap between the new senior loan and the payoff. Refinance the whole stack with a single whole loan. Or sell. The gap is usually created by a lower valuation or a higher coupon than the original underwriting assumed, so the question is whether the asset's income can service the blended cost of the new structure.
Mezzanine is debt: it sits behind the senior loan, is usually secured on the shares of the property-owning company, and pays a contractual coupon. Preferred equity is an equity interest with a priority return ahead of the sponsor's own equity — it typically has no security over the asset and can accrue rather than pay cash. Preferred equity is generally more expensive and more flexible; mezzanine is cheaper and more rigid. Which one is achievable usually depends on what the senior lender permits.
It depends on value, net operating income, the existing debt and whether that debt stays in place. The binding constraint is normally income coverage rather than loan-to-value: the asset has to service the blended cost of the whole stack. Dry Capital publishes a free tool, the Terminal Pre-flight, that screens a deal against current European market terms in about sixty seconds and returns a red, amber or green verdict with the supporting numbers.
Office, residential, logistics, retail, hotel and hospitality, student housing and healthcare — across Benelux, Iberia and Germany, with offices in Brussels and Madrid. Deals range from core to opportunistic and across the full capital stack.
Yes, it is free, and no account or sign-up is required. Enter the property and the capital sought and it returns a red, amber or green verdict benchmarked against published European market research, which is refreshed quarterly. It is available in English, Spanish, German and French. It is a screening tool, not an offer of capital.
Email [email protected] with the asset, the capital sought and the situation. For a first read on whether the capital is achievable, run the Terminal Pre-flight first and send the result — it saves a round of questions.