Arbuthnot Commercial ABL surpasses £400m lending milestone

By Bridging Loan Directory 17th May 2022

Since launching in 2018, Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending has passed a major milestone, having structured, and delivered £430m of facilities to date to SMEs and mid-market businesses across England, Scotland, and Wales.

From 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2022 facilities have seen an increase of 95%, client numbers have risen by 70% and client volumes have soared by 128% to £1.73bn.

Event-driven transactions, including acquisitions, MBOs, MBIs, and corporate carve-outs, feature highly with 52 per cent of transactions being private equity-backed.

Last year alone, Arbuthnot Commercial ABL provided £160m of facilities across 33 deals.

AlixPartners Mid-Market Debt Report H2 2021 (UK ABL Deal Count excluding receivables only/ IDF deals) further highlighted that Arbuthnot Commercial ABL has emerged as the leading asset-based lender in M&A transactions in the £5m to £100m range.

2022 has also started strongly with a robust pipeline of deals which has already translated into £37m of facilities across the entire ABL lending suite.

Tim Hawkins, Managing Director of Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending Limited, said:

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of our clients as well as the key business introducers and private equity sponsors, with whom we work closely in support of SMEs and mid-market businesses.

Thanks also go to our dedicated and experienced team for their commitment and relentless effort.

One of the key factors behind the numbers contained in these highlights has been our ability to attract talent.

We have grown from four people to 28 since we started, and we are proud of the strength and depth of our team.”

That client volume has seen 128% growth since 1 January 2021 says a lot about our clients’ resilience and ambition.

These businesses consistently punch above their weight in terms of sustained job creation, revenue generation and economic impact.

Following the pandemic, the continued fortitude of client management teams in the face of rising inflation, labour shortages and supply-chain disruption is nothing short of inspiring.

Asset based lending remains firmly at the forefront of corporate finance advisers’ minds when looking to fund M&A transactions enabling ambitious SME and mid-market businesses the opportunity to emerge stronger and thrive.

Clients tell us that the quantum, flexibility, and speed of funding we provide as a lender play an important part in their success stories, giving them the confidence and certainty to grow.

As always, we would like to leave the last word to one of our clients.”

Commenting in respect of their recent transaction, Mark Perryman, Chairman, Wagstaff Bros., Limited, said:

“We only had a few weeks to complete this MBO or we would have lost the opportunity.

We recognised that most banks would be too slow to deliver at this level and Arbuthnot Commercial ABL was the only provider that moved quickly and commercially to get the transaction completed on time.

‘Commerciality’ is something that is easily said but not always delivered by banks in practice.

However, the team at Arbuthnot Commercial ABL demonstrated their ability to get the deal done, always looking for reasons to fund the transaction, rather than simply ticking the standard due diligence boxes.”