Specialist lender setting up shop in Manchester

Specialist direct lender to SMEs Beechbrook Capital is planning to open its first regional office in Manchester soon.

The company backs business with a turnover of between £10m and £100m and EBITDA above £1m and has held a final close of its inaugural UK SME credit fund with commitments in excess of £150m, completing two new investments and attraction funds from across the UK, Europe and North America.

Jon Herbert, Beechbrook managing director of the firm’s UK SME Credit fund, said: “The Manchester office, which is scheduled to open in the first half of 2017, will increase our ability to meet the strong funding demand from UK SMEs and will facilitate closer relationships with the firms we back and their advisers.”

The final close was supported by a combination of new and existing investors.

British Business Bank Investments has increased its commitment. Its chief executive Catherine Lewis La Torre said: “We have supported Beechbrook and its experienced management team for a number of years through our Investment Programme.

“In line with our aim to support diverse debt finance markets, we are pleased to be participating in the latest round of Beechbrook’s UK SME Credit fund. The new fund’s focus will help address the well-recognised funding gap for loans between £3m and £15m.”

The fund’s most recent investments are unitranche loans to Northampton-based  2Excel Aviation, an innovative business in the aviation sector, and Bath-headquartered Cloud Direct, a cloud migration and management company, to support the two groups’ respective growth strategies.

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