ThinCats to lend up to £300m under ENABLE Guarantee programme
ThinCats will deliver up to £300m to businesses through the British Business Bank’s ENABLE Guarantee programme, thanks to a funding deal with investment bank Citi.
The alternative lender said that it had secured a senior warehouse facility from Citi and will use the guarantee provided under the ENABLE programme to deploy these funds.
ThinCats said that this is the first transaction under the ENABLE Guarantee programme to facilitate lending for term loans to smaller businesses from an alternative lender with a bank as a senior funder.
ThinCats now has more than £500m to deliver over the next year or so.
Under an ENABLE Guarantee, the government takes on a portion of the risk on a portfolio of loans to smaller businesses, in return for a fee and when working with non-bank financial institutions, this typically aligns with any senior funder.
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“We are currently seeing high levels of demand from mid-sized small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to fund organic growth opportunities and for larger merger and acquisition transactions,” said Ravi Anand, managing director at ThinCats.
“The provision of this new funding is well timed to support businesses with their post-pandemic growth plans.
“SMEs are a critical sector of the economy and rightly deserve support via the British Business Bank ENABLE programme.
“ENABLE does what it says on the tin; in this case enabling alternative lenders like ThinCats, working alongside banks, to provide bespoke lending at scale to support UK businesses.”
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“The ENABLE Guarantee programme was set up to increase funding to smaller businesses by making it more attractive for banks and other financial institutions to lend to this part of the market,” said Reinald de Monchy, managing director, guarantee and wholesale solutions at the British Business Bank.
“We are delighted to be involved in this innovative partnership with ThinCats to the benefit of smaller businesses across the UK.”
In July, ThinCats was accredited to the recovery loan scheme. The funds it will deliver through the ENABLE Guarantee programme is separate.