Praetura Commercial Finance and its sister company Zodeq have secured a £200m ($255m) asset-based lending securitisation facility from British banking giant Barclays.
This strategic move is set to significantly bolster support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across the UK.
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Praetura anticipates the facility to expand its existing capacity to satisfy the growing demand for alternative lending options, with projections to assist more than 1,000 additional SMEs annually.
According to the company, the funding has positioned it as the only specialist finance company in the UK with two distinct securitisation facilities from two institutional banks.
This follows a previous £160m asset finance securitisation facility from NatWest, covering both sales finance and asset finance.
Praetura cited one of its studies, which indicates that nearly 59% of UK businesses have claimed to have experienced a decline in access to capital over the past five years, with around 43% citing it as a significant challenge.
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By GlobalDataFurther underlining the need for such facilities, the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report revealed that in 2022, more than a third (or 36%) of small business loan applications were unsuccessful.
The establishment of this new facility is a response to the sustained growth within the Praetura Lending Division, which has seen its loan book triple to £400m over the last three years, supporting a current total of 4,500 businesses.
In addition, Praetura Lending has also scaled up its workforce to accommodate the increasing demand for SME finance, which ranges from asset refinancing to invoice discounting.
The division now employs more than 150 individuals across its offices in Manchester, Wilmslow, Blackburn, Milton Keynes and Cheshire.
Founded in 2013, the Praetura Lending Division includes Praetura Asset Finance, Praetura Commercial Finance, Kingsway Finance, and Zodeq.
Praetura Lending Division CEO Peadar O’Reilly said: “By working with forward-thinking institutions, such as Barclays, we are able to bring down the barriers to capital for thousands of UK businesses.
“Delivering this facility was a real collaboration between our treasury team, management and advisors Stuart Mogg & Jenna Picken. It would also not have been possible without the functionality and reporting capability of our proprietary technology platform Praeview.”
