Foresight tops up credit facility for asset based lender

Asset-based lender Reward Finance has secured an additional £50m to its credit line from its main funder Foresight, the private equity and alternative finance provider.

The asset based lender currently supports over 500 businesses SMEs from six regional offices, including Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds and has recently taken its loan book to over £200m.

As well as Foresight, Reward’s other sources of funding include South African bank RMB (Rand Merchant Bank), and three other businesses linked to its founder and co-owners.

Nick Smith, group managing director for Reward Finance Group, said: “This opportunity supports not only our business but also our clients in a challenging industry landscape. It emerges as a genuine positive for SMEs, who often find it difficult to secure funding from high street banks, especially while still recovering in a post-COVID climate, hit by rising inflation, interest rates and corporation tax. The support Foresight has provided over the last six years has been pivotal to our growth ambitions. This latest £50 million increase, taking the total lending facility from Foresight to £180 million, further solidifies our shared confidence and vision for the business and fuels our aspirations to expand even further – in the next three years, we aim to surpass £350 million in our loan book.”

Amy Crofton, director at Foresight Group, commented: “The business has not only achieved 12 years of continuous growth but has also proven to be indispensable to numerous UK based SMEs. Reward’s responsible, common-sense approach to lending has been a cornerstone of its success to date and is integral to ensuring firms secure the working capital needed for growth and job creation.”

David Harrop, group finance director at Reward, added: “The £50 million increase is not only a major development for the business, allowing us to further enhance our lending capabilities, but also a significant boost for SMEs needing to borrow amidst prevailing economic and political uncertainty. We’ve invested significant effort into regional expansion over the last two years, and the latest investment from Foresight is a recognition of our progress. In this period alone, we’ve transitioned from being a highly-recognised lender in Yorkshire and the North West, to financing the growth ambitions of SMEs across nearly all corners of the UK.”

Foresight’s Private Credit strategy provides secured wholesale loan facilities to alternative lenders.