Sancus completes £12m funding for Heartlands development

ALTERNATIVE finance provider Sancus has completed a £12m funding deal for a Scottish property development aiming to promote sustainable living on the site of a former coal mine.

The Heartlands development, situated between Glasgow and Edinburgh, along the M8 corridor, spans around 1,400 acres and combines residential, business and leisure facilities as well as cycle paths and pedestrian zones built from recycled materials sourced at the existing site.

The £12m funding will refinance and provide working capital facilities for the development of the project.

Sancus offers financing and flexible funding to small- and medium-sized enterprises through a range of working capital solutions such as trade and invoice finance. Its peer-to-peer lending brands include Funding Knight, Sancus Finance and Sancus (Gibraltar).

The transaction was completed with advice from the real estate department of law firm Shoosmiths.

“The commercially astute advice and dedication provided by the Shoosmiths’ team ensured the funding deal was completed within a short time frame,” Andy Whelan, chief executive of Sancus, said.

“We look forward to working with the team again on future projects.”

It marks a busy few weeks for the GLI Finance-owned brands after its Funding Knight invoice finance platform gained full authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) earlier this month.

GLI Finance is undergoing a broader overhaul, which was prompted last year by ongoing cumulative losses, and entailed selling off a number of assets and streamlining subsidiaries’ operations.