SME funding business now has an additional £50m to lend
Leeds-based SME funder, Reward Finance Group, has received a £50m increase in its credit line from alternative investment manager, Foresight Group.
Reward says it is now planning to double the size of its business in the next three years.
The new facility brings the total provided to Reward by Foresight to £130m, the largest credit facility the Foresight Structured Lending team has agreed to date.
The increase in the credit line follows 12 months in which Reward saw strong demand for its products, and the opening of three new offices in the last nine months – leading to a 50% increase in lending.
Reward currently has 350 SME clients on its book, five regional offices and aspirations to double the loan book to £250m in the next three years.
Nick Smith, group managing director of Reward Finance Group, said: “It is excellent when a third party shares your vision for the future and is assured by your business model and projections. For Foresight to support us by increasing our credit line to a record £130m is a ringing endorsement of the way we operate.
“Our three new offices, in Birmingham, London and Edinburgh, have been a great success giving us added confidence to expand our regional office network further, especially now we have an additional £50m to lend.
“We have completed ten years of unbroken annual growth in both our loan book and profitability, as audited by PwC. We are very proud of this achievement, as it is a standout performance in the alternative finance market, and new offices and products are already in the pipeline to ensure this success continues.”
James Livingston, Partner at Foresight Group, added: “We are pleased to have supported Reward on its journey and our own pragmatic approach to funding has allowed us to build a strong partnership, growing our facility more than threefold after five extensions, and supporting Reward’s expansion across the country.
“With its ambitious expansion plans we are confident Reward will go from strength to strength and we therefore had no hesitation in increasing the credit line to help facilitate its growth.”
