Origination shows a record year of £378 million lent to SMEs across the UK, “representing an increase over the last year, during a period of time when the overall market has seen a drop in volumes by more than 19%.” This, according to an update from ThinCats.
ThinCats noted in a blog post that growth in origination “was underpinned by strong performance in the business’s Sponsor franchise which supported PE-backed transactions with more than £240m.”
ThinCats claims that it is “the largest non-bank lender to UK lower mid-market private equity transactions and maintains a market leading position in M&A funding (ranking number 2 by volume).”
To date, ThinCats has lent “more than £1.9bn to businesses from a diverse range of sectors across the UK and assets under management now stand at record levels of £800 million.”
Mike Hackett, Chief Commercial Officer, ThinCats said that “over the past couple of years, they’ve reportedly seen huge challenges facing businesses of all sizes. Cost inflation, energy bills and higher interest rates has led many to take and ‘wait and see’ approach. And while we’ve seen a drop in activity across the whole market, I am pleased that we have continued to grow and report increasing origination levels.”
As consumer and business confidence continues to improve, “alongside more favourable economic conditions, we are expecting a significant increase in M&A activity largely due to pent up demand.”
As mentioned in another update, the ThinCats sponsor team “continued to build on recent successes with record level of origination in FY24. Over the last twelve months, the team deployed over £230m of new funding across 26 national transactions, investing into a wide range of end sectors and markets.”
They’ve brought 16 new borrower relationships “into the portfolio, adding a further 12 new sponsor relationships to our growing franchise.”
They have financed both primary and secondary buyouts, shareholder recapitalizations, and funding to “support buy and build strategies, highlighting our event-driven focus.”
As a team, they continue to back their existing borrowers, “providing follow-on financing in support of a change of control, as well as growth financing to support site roll-outs, acquisitions, and working capital investment via accordion draws and our revolving credit facility offering.”
As they continue to grow, they’ve made further “investment into the wider team, with the arrival of Simon Dixon, Steve Munt, Calum Ruddock and Karris Giani all adding to the team’s capabilities and experience and importantly providing scale to continue to serve, support and finance investment into the UK SME environment.”