British Business Investments announces a £15m follow-on investment into North-West based Universal Leasing Limited.
The investment, which follows an earlier £12m commitment made to Universal Leasing in 2018, allows the company “to further increase its support for smaller businesses.”
The transaction will be structured “as a block discounting facility that will allow Universal Leasing to provide funding support to smaller businesses looking to acquire business-critical assets to accelerate their growth.”
Over the last 10 years, Universal Leasing has “provided funding in excess of £150 million to support more than 6,000 customers in the SME sector.”
British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, aims “to increase the supply and diversity of finance for smaller businesses across the UK by boosting the lending capacity of a range of finance providers.”
Since it was established in 2014, British Business Investments has “committed more than £3.3 billion to providers of finance to UK smaller businesses.”
Judith Hartley, CEO of British Business Investments, said:
“This investment will allow Universal Leasing to further expand their support for smaller businesses across the UK.’’
Michael Hughes, Managing Director, Universal Leasing Limited, said:
“We now have approximately £50 million of lease/loan receivables outstanding to UK SMEs. The increased facility provided will help to increase our funding available to UK SMEs to acquire much needed assets for growth.”
As covered, British Business Investments Limited is “a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank.”
British Business Investments aims to “earn a commercial return by investing – through finance providers – in smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economic advantage from the government.”
The Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such.
They are not authorized or regulated “by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).”
As noted in the update, Universal Leasing Ltd, is “an independent asset finance specialist, providing small ticket equipment leasing through approved suppliers and brokers.”
Trading as Admiral Leasing & Loans, they have been “providing equipment finance solutions for over 28 years through a network of equipment suppliers and brokers.”
With a solid reputation in the UK market, based upon excellent customer service levels and wide industry knowledge, they “provide equipment leasing across all industry sectors. “
