British Business Bank increases Compass Business Finance facility to £45m

The British Business Bank has increased its funding facility with Compass Business Finance by 50% to as much as £45m, giving the specialist lender additional capacity to finance equipment and technology purchases by smaller UK businesses.

The government-owned development bank announced the increase on 1 September. Compass previously had a £30m facility, itself an expansion of an initial £15m commitment made in 2020. The latest transaction therefore adds up to £15m of capacity rather than representing a new £45m cash injection.

Compass provides finance leases, hire purchase and business loans, with a particular focus on asset finance for the print, engineering and construction industries. The new facility is intended to support continued growth in its lending book and allow it to fund more SME investment in equipment and technology.

The transaction has been made through the British Business Bank’s Investment Programme. Unlike a conventional small-business loan scheme, the programme deploys capital through finance providers themselves, supporting institutions that can then increase the volume and range of finance available to smaller companies.

The Bank can invest on commercial terms across senior, mezzanine, unitranche and subordinated debt instruments within the programme. The exact structure, pricing and maturity of the enlarged Compass facility have not been disclosed.

Compass also participates separately in the Growth Guarantee Scheme. British Business Bank data show the lender had supported 691 GGS facilities with a drawn value of £62.9m by the end of June 2026, although those guarantees are distinct from the £45m Investment Programme facility announced today.

That distinction matters because the two programmes solve different funding constraints. The Growth Guarantee Scheme reduces part of the credit risk on individual eligible loans, while the Investment Programme can strengthen the funding available to the specialist lender itself.

The increase from £30m to £45m therefore expands Compass’s own financing capacity at a time when equipment-intensive SMEs remain dependent on specialist lenders for capital expenditure that may not fit conventional bank lending models.