Working with the British Business Bank we are proud to provide a £51m facility to fund a portfolio of small businesses with asset finance facilities.
The transaction, which is 50% guaranteed by the European Investment Fund, is the second of the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Funding programme, which aims to significantly increase the supply of leasing and asset finance to smaller businesses in the UK. It follows a £100m facility provided to Hitachi Capital (UK) Limited in October 2015.
Peter Alderson, Managing Director, White Oak UK, said: “White Oak UK [formerly LDF] are delighted to be working with the British Business Bank on this exciting initiative. Access to finance, particularly for asset procurement, remains a critical barrier to success for many smaller businesses and making this more readily available is something that we are behind fully.
“We already deliver significant support to this sector, providing over £40m of finance in January alone. With strong ongoing support from our shareholder, Cabot Square Capital and our recent acquisition asset finance specialist, First Independent Finance (FIF), we have very ambitious plans for growing our presence in the SME market.
"The combination of White Oak UK's scale and stature, teamed with the strong asset finance heritage of FIF increase both our geographical presence and our potential client base. We now have over 5000 clients and this facility will enable us to grow that base and also provide a higher level of support to a significant proportion of that client base.”
Reinald de Monchy, Managing Director, Wholesale Solutions at the British Business Bank, said: “This second transaction in the ENABLE Funding programme will further boost the availability of asset finance for businesses across the UK. We are particularly pleased to be able to be working with LDF, which is a high-growth lender, to help it expand its funding programme, which has already supported so many businesses across the UK.
“We now have provided two facilities totalling £151 million and we anticipate further transactions throughout 2016. Our intention remains for these facilities to be refinanced through the capital markets once we achieve a required critical mass of circa £300 million or more.”
