ThinCats offers £100m funding for manufacturing firms
THINCATS, the peer-to-peer business lender, is making £100m available to fund and support manufacturing businesses across the UK.
In partnership with Hennik Edge, a networked advisory team for manufacturers, ThinCats will use its network of origination managers to support companies that require growth capital.
Since 2011, ThinCats has lent £20m to businesses operating in the manufacturing space, with 73 loans servicing 50 different companies.
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ThinCats chief executive John Mould (pictured) said the funding and expertise of Hennik Edge would enable ThinCats to increase the pace of lending even further.
“ThinCats specialises in providing funding that, in many cases, the high street banks cannot,” he said. “Whether it’s for working capital, acquisitions, asset purchase or refinancing, we will help to ensure that manufacturing continues to be the lifeblood of the UK economy by supporting growth across the sector.”
ThinCats provided a working capital loan of £500,000 to Gainsborough Silk, which produces fabrics for royal palaces and grand residences, to enable it to ramp up production capacity with the purchase of additional looms.
“It’s a success story that this £100m of funding will replicate many times over,” said Mould. “We’re looking forward to working with other ambitious manufacturers over the coming months and years.”
Steven Barr, managing director at Hennik Edge, said the funding offers a “great alternative” for ambitious, growing small- to medium-sized enterprises.
ThinCats recently announced it had pushed back the launch of its Innovative Finance ISA because building the required systems to administer investments had taken longer than expected.
It is also introducing a lender fee for new investors, equivalent to a one per cent reduction in annual returns, effective from 1 January 2018.
Read more: ThinCats hires East Midlands funding expert to scale up business