Close targets SMEs with £50m fund

INVOICE finance house Close Invoice Finance has announced a £50m ‘fighting fund’ to help small and medium sized businesses weather the recession.

The firm has made the £50m fund available as it says that banks continue to impose strict lending policies putting pressure on to cash-strapped SMEs across the North East and Yorkshire region.

Ian Steward, managing director of Close Invoice Finance in the North of England, said: “In the current economic climate, as traditional sources of funding disappear, small businesses are at most risk of failure due to cash flow problems. Banks are failing to move quickly to help the SME sector, the very backbone of our business community.

“We hope our £50m fighting fund will help businesses in the North East and Yorkshire region take advantage of an alternative, more flexible source of funding. Business owners need to understand that banks are not the only route to securing cashflow.”  

Invoice finance rallows companies to raise cash against their sales ledger.

Mr Steward added; “Close Invoice Finance is interested in the integrity of debt, not the company balance sheet or rate of growth. This means that we approach businesses in a very different way to traditional lenders such as banks who are focused on more obvious indicators of business success.”

Close Invoice Finance is part of the FTSE 250 merchant banking group, Close Brothers Group.