Fund provides £500k for bespoke Manchester furniture supplier
The Greater Manchester Loan Fund, managed by Maven Capital Partners, has completed its 32nd deal investing £500,000 in Manchester-based LOFT Interiors, a leading supplier in furniture solutions for the residential property sector.
Funding will be used to support the continued development of LOFT’s operations, product, and team, to facilitate growth opportunities in existing and new markets.
With more than 80 staff already operating from LOFT’s offices in Manchester and London, the investment is expected to create eight new jobs in the region.
Founded in 2003, LOFT supplies design-led furniture and accessories to the build to rent (BTR) and build to let (BTL) sectors, student accommodation, and landlords and estate agents, furnishing large scale residential projects, as well as providing individual items, and caters for different price points from budget to premium.
Now working with some of the biggest developers and contractors in the property sector, with a strong pipeline of projects with industry leading companies, LOFT is quickly becoming one of the most recognised suppliers of bespoke furniture solutions across the North West.
LOFT’s underlying markets are exhibiting growth.
In residential, BTR and BTS have benefited from a recent £65m investment from the Government, while BTR has been further boosted by the creation of a £2.5bn Government guarantee scheme, which has been designed to encourage further institutional investment in the sector.
LOFT’s co-founder and managing director, Benjamin Hall, has spent 15 years growing the business with his father, co-founder and director, Robert Hall.
Gavin Bell, investment manager at Maven, said: “We are delighted to support LOFT with this investment.
“This is an established, dynamic business and Ben and his team are driven and passionate individuals, focused on the exciting future growth opportunities in their markets.
“We look forward to working with LOFT to assist their ambitious growth plans,”
He added: “A significant investment for the fund, GMLF has now invested over £15 to support the creation of over 400 jobs in the Greater Manchester area. We continue to actively encourage local businesses with exciting growth plans to get in touch with the Maven team.”
Benjamin Hall said: “I am proud to have taken the company from start-up to a turnover of £10m in 15 years using just a £15,000 student loan as start-up capital.
“There is a growing demand in our target markets for a design-led approach and we will continue to evaluate the needs of both developers and end-users to evolve the products and ensure the growing range meets their requirements.
“The investment from Maven will allow LOFT to invest in our brands and support the company on its growth trajectory.”
Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: “Through the fund and the investment announced today, we are demonstrating Greater Manchester’s ambition and commitment to doing things differently, working with local firms to help them grow and create jobs and opportunities for local people.”
Launched in August 2013 by the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), GMLF was established to provide flexible finance solutions to businesses throughout the region to encourage growth while creating and safeguarding jobs.
Managed by Maven, the fund has invested more than £15m in 32 local businesses, creating in excess of 400 jobs.
With millions of pounds still available to help fund growth, ambitious Manchester-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are urged to take advantage of the fund offering finance between £100,000 and £750,000 with the potential for follow-on funding to qualifying companies.
The fund will be open to new investments until 2020.
DTE Business Advisers (Manchester) undertook the financial due-diligence and Pannone Corporate (Manchester) the legal advice for Maven.
LOFT were advised by AW Associates (Manchester).
