Propel Finance completes £1.5bn funding round

Propel Finance, the UK’s fastest-growing asset finance lender, has announces the completion of a £1.5bn funding round to provide finance solutions for thousands more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK investing in business-critical equipment and vehicles.

The company has been recognised by Asset Finance UK 50 as seeing the “Fastest Sustained Growth by an Asset Finance Lender” for the past 3 consecutive years.

This significant new financing round has been backed by a number of leading financial institutions and investors.

Key highlights of the programme include:
– A significant committed forward flow funding line with Barclays
– A new strategic committed wholesale funding line with Bank of America
– An extended committed wholesale facility with Citi
– An extended committed wholesale facility with the British Business Bank as part of the ENABLE Funding Programme
– A new committed mezzanine facility with a global alternative investment firm
– Extension and increase in several receivables funding lines provided by global Banks

Legal advice was provided by Ashurst on the forward flow line and by Blake Morgan on the wholesale and mezzanine facilities. Interpath supported as advisors on the new mezzanine facility.

This latest funding round will enable Propel to continue its rapid growth and support for its partners and customers, driving innovation in the asset finance sector.

Propel lends to businesses acquiring manufacturing, transport and construction plant, equipment and vehicles, as well as supporting the UK’s largest resellers with sales of business-critical technology and telecoms solutions. Propel has lent more than £1bn in the last 3 years, supporting more than 50,000 SMEs over this time, and this latest funding round will support plans to more than double new lending over the next 3 years.

Propel has also invested more than £10m in its proprietary digital platform including developing a new B2B embedded finance offering, bringing point-of-sale digital financing solutions to SMEs investing in new technology equipment. Propel is working with a number of merchants and new partners to support 10s of thousands of UK SMEs accessing the latest technology devices, and will be making further announcements in due course.

Mark Catton, CEO of Propel said: “We are thrilled to have secured this transformative £1.5 billion in funding availability, helping us accelerate our growth and support for our partners and SME customers. We are delighted to work with an outstanding panel of institutional lenders and are incredibly grateful for their exceptional support and confidence in the Propel team”.

Andrei Cotonet, Director, Structured Finance, at Bank of America said: “We see significant opportunity in the UK asset finance sector and are proud to support Propel’s continued expansion and growth with this strategic funding line. We look forward to seeing the positive impact this partnership will have on businesses across the UK”.

A Citi representative said: “We are pleased to extend our facility with Propel Finance, which will enable Propel to extend their financing solutions to more UK businesses”.

Reinald de Monchy, Co-Chief Banking Officer, Products, British Business Bank said: “Propel Finance has been an important delivery partner for the Bank via its participation in the ENABLE Funding programme and more recently, their accreditation to the Growth Guarantee Scheme. We welcome this extension of their committed wholesale facility and look forward to the positive impact this funding round will provide to smaller businesses investing in business-critical assets”.

Source: Propel Finance