Asset manager Insight Investment boosts ThinCats’ lending ability by £300m to fund SMEs with loans
SME lender ThinCats has closed a £300 million facility with asset manager Insight Investment to fund UK SMEs with loans.
On top of £300 million from existing investors, ThinCats now has a potential £600 million to fund UK SMEs across all regions and sectors from £100,000 to £10 million. To date, it has provided £300 million worth of debt to SMEs.
ThinCats provides loans for up to five years to companies with asset backing or reliable cashflows for working capital, acquisition, refinance or growth.
Damon Walford, chief development officer ThinCats, said: “We have responded to a market need to provide lending at a cost of capital that reflects the lower risk associated with established strong businesses, and thereby offer a real alternative to bank funding. ThinCats enables SMEs to scale-up fast and achieve their growth ambitions with strong institutional funding support.
“With our interest rates now starting at 5 per cent, this new programme puts us right in the mix with traditional lenders.”
Shaheer Guirguis, head of secured finance at Insight Investment, said: “Our partnership with ThinCats represents our commitment to source the most compelling investment opportunities in specialist lending markets such as SME loans.
“In an era in which banks are retrenching from certain lending markets due to regulatory considerations, this is a concrete example of how institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies can step in to support SMEs and UK economic activity across the country.”
ThinCats managing director Ravi Anand added that ThinCats has proved it can generate sustainable yields that are a compelling alternative to traditional fixed-income investments, across a range of risk profiles. For borrowers, ThinCats fills the funding gap left by conventional lenders.
Insight Investment, part of BNY Mellon, has more than £600 billion worth of assets under management.
