Arbuthnot Commercial ABL delivers £12m refinancing facility

By Bridging Loan Directory 11th February 2019

Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Ltd. is delighted to announce it has completed a £12m refinancing for L&C Limited, trading under Red 7 Marine (“R7M”), the leading provider of nearshore access solutions to the UK marine construction and maintenance industry, and an investee company of Perwyn Private Equity (“Perwyn”).

R7M has been involved in prestige infrastructure projects such as the London Super Sewer, Crossrail, Blackfriars station, London Eye maintenance, Canary Wharf and London City Airport. Nick Offord (CEO) founded the business in 1999 as Haven Ports Limited, which was merged with another company in 2008 before Perwyn acquired the enlarged group via a MBO in 2013.

This facility will better position R7M to take advantage of future growth opportunities while freeing up Perwyn’s capital in the near term.

Today’s announcement follows a strong first year of deal flow as Arbuthnot Commercial ABL passed its first anniversary in January. To date Arbuthnot Commercial ABL has written facilities for 20 clients such as Tivoli Group, Fluorocarbon Group and the Majestic Shower Company.

Arbuthnot Commercial ABL will look to continue to build off this established momentum throughout 2019 having already made a promising start by completing five deals, one acquisition, two re-financings, one MBO and a PE backed refinance including a property loan.

Commenting on the latest transaction, Nick Offord, CEO of Red 7 Marine, said:

“There was a lot of will from both sides to make this deal happen. This is a great example of two teams coming together quickly and working together to a very tight timeframe. Arbuthnot Commercial ABL was very professional and responsive and able to make decisions very quickly, which was very refreshing. As well as being the ‘go‐to’ company in our field, we are now ideally placed to make further inroads into the renewable energy sector and the horizon looks very promising.”

Andrew Rutherford, pictured, Commercial Director of Arbuthnot Commercial ABL, commented:

“R7M is a very impressive business led by a highly experienced management team with a clear vision for the future. Having the opportunity to support the business as it expands into new and emerging sectors as well as focussing on its existing core markets is compelling and we wish Nick and the management team every success as they bring their exciting plans to fruition.

“Arbuthnot Commercial ABL has already proven itself to be a fast-growing company supported by an exceptionally talented team. We’re delighted that these impressive first year figures emphasise our early successes and are thankful to our wider network and introducer base. Having established such a solid foundation in what continues to be a highly competitive marketplace we’re confident we will carry this momentum in to 2019.”