An alternative lender has secured £160 million of investment, which in turn will help it provide £2 billion of new lending.
Leicestershire-based ThinCats said it was planning to scale up lending to its mid-sized SME customers following the investment from New York-based investment management firm Wafra Capital Partner (WCP).
Since launching in 2011 ThinCats has lent £900 million, and WCP – which has partnered with Quilam Capital on the transaction –has become a significant minority shareholder.
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ThinCats chief executive Amany Attia said: “We are delighted to announce this significant investment by WCP, reinforcing their belief in our business.
“WCP is an exceptional partner with proven experience in supporting specialty finance platforms. WCP shares our vision to deliver real scale of funding to 海角视频 SMEs.
“Mid-sized businesses are feeling more confident as the economy recovers from the pandemic and are looking to rebuild working capital and expand either organically or through acquisition.
“The WCP investment provides ThinCats the certainty of funding needed to support these businesses’ growth plans.
“This is an important next step for us as a lender and allows us to bring the benefits of non-bank lending to a wider universe of mid-sized businesses.”
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ThinCats, which is the trading name of a group of companies owned by ESF Capital Limited, is based in Ashby-de-la-Zouch and provides business with loans of between £1 million and £15 million,
The new capital will support its continued expansion through bigger loan sizes and new product development to scale up volumes.
Rachid Ouaich, managing director for Europe at WCP, said: “We have known ThinCats for a couple of years and been impressed how they have been able to scale the business, create a profitable platform and navigate the pandemic.
“Our capital is perfectly suited to assisting ThinCats on its next stage of growth.
“We look forward to working with our partners, Quilam Capital, and the ThinCats team over the next few years to support mid-sized SMEs who will play an important role in delivering economic growth across the 海角视频.”
Ravi Anand, managing director of ThinCats, said: “WCP’s investment follows a thorough process of engagement with the investor community.
“We chose WCP because of their deep experience with alternative lenders and the flexible nature of their capital.
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“To date, we have successfully raised £750 million of lending capital.
“Now, alongside WCP’s investment, we are close to completing two senior bank funding agreements which will provide an immediate additional £500 million to support 海角视频 SMEs into 2022.”
Kieran McSweeney, a partner at Quilam Capital, said: “We are delighted to be working alongside WCP and backing the impressive management team at ThinCats who have built a market leading platform in the SME space and one that we believe can grow materially over the next few years, supporting many hundreds of businesses and underpinning thousands of jobs.”
ThinCats was advised by Fenchurch Advisory Partners and CMS on WCP’s investment.
WCP is an affiliate of Wafra Inc, which is owned by the Public Institution for Social Security of Kuwait, which in turn is controlled by the State of Kuwait.
It manages and advises funds and accounts, principally on a Sharia’a-compliant basis.