OakNorth, the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, has provided a £40m NAV Revolving Credit Facility (RCF) to returning customer, Literacy Capital.
Founded in 2017 by Paul and Richard Pindar, Literacy is “a closed-end investment company focused on investing in and supporting growing UK businesses and helping their management teams to achieve long-term success.”
Headquartered in central London, the firm “listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market in June 2021, before gaining Investment Trust status on 1 April 2022.”
The £40m NAV RCF will be used to refinance existing debt, “as well as provide additional capital and flexibility for Literacy to continue making new investments and to support the existing portfolio.”
The transaction marks OakNorth’s third fund finance deal “completed in recent months, including a subscription line to leading private equity firm, Palamon Capital Partners and a capital call facility to returning customer and private equity real estate investor, Paloma Capital.”
CEO of BOOK’s investment manager, Richard Pindar, said:
“We are pleased to agree a new debt facility for the fund, which will support Literacy and its investment activity over the medium term to continue delivering leading NAV performance and shareholder returns. We are encouraged by the large number of high-quality founder-led businesses in the UK and we continually appraise these new investment opportunities. Mohith Sondhi and the OakNorth team once again showed their expertise and knowledge of the UK’s fund finance market, which meant their speed of execution was unlike that of any other lender we’ve worked with previously.”
Launched in September 2015, OakNorth is the digital bank for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs, empowering “the lower mid-market (businesses with £1m-£100m turnover) to support growth, prosperity, and innovation for the benefit of all.”
Since its launch, the bank has:
- Lent over £11bn to these businesses, directly helping with the creation of 40,000 new jobs and 29,000 new homes across the UK;
- Provide deposit services to over c.285,000 savers.
