Thincats Record year of lending in 2019
We are delighted to announce a record year for lending in 2019 with over £200 million of funding provided, almost double 2018’s previous record. In total we have now lent more than £580 million to small and mid-sized businesses across the UK.
Reflecting the considerable funding gap for mature mid-sized SMEs, we have decided to increase our minimum loan size to £1 million, with the maximum loan size remaining at £15 million.
We seek to ensure our offering is relevant to different segments of the market and in response to increasing demand in 2019 have created specialist credit and origination teams for private equity investors and businesses in the healthcare and leisure sectors.
Amany Attia, Chief Executive Officer, ThinCats: “Despite the political uncertainty, UK businesses continue to invest for the future and we are delighted to have supported mid-sized SMEs with more than £200 million of funding during 2019. This is almost double our previous record of 2018.
Having reviewed the UK SME lending market, we see a real need for our particular lending model dedicated to the “M”s of SMEs. These medium-sized businesses, while often well established, may not be large enough to gain the proper focus and attention from the banks, whilst their needs are too complex for the online only lenders. There is a genuine gap in the £1m - £15m space for a lender like ThinCats that understands the needs of these businesses and can offer a bespoke funding service delivered by regionally based origination and credit experts.
We are taking this personal service one step further in 2020 by developing specialist services to private equity backed businesses and those in the healthcare and leisure sectors. These initiatives mean we can now offer even more competitive terms to the high quality borrowers in each of these segments. We will, of course, continue to provide a focus and first class service to businesses across all sectors.
We have a strong pipeline of transactions for the first half of 2020, showing that UK businesses, perhaps, feel a bit more confident given some easing of the political deadlock surrounding Brexit, although the sooner there is greater clarity on the future trading relationship with the EU the better.”
Read our full annual review below:
