The British Business Bank has agreed a new facility with BFS Marine Finance, designed to increase the flow of finance to smaller businesses within the commercial marine sector.
The structured finance facility of up to £20m will “allow BFS Marine Finance to provide secured financing facilities for the acquisition or refurbishment of marine assets operating in various sectors.”
Qualifying assets include coastal ships trading “in UK and European waters, general purpose workboats, windfarm service craft, survey vessels, charter boats and passenger ferries.”
The finance will enable smaller marine businesses to “acquire newer vessels to expand or upgrade their existing fleet.”
It will contribute to improved energy efficiency as the “use of more sustainable fuels or conversion to battery or hybrid power comes online.”
Jonathan Marriott, Senior Director, Structured Financial Institutions Solutions, British Business Bank, said:
“Marine finance is a sector with strong growth potential in the UK and we are delighted to be supporting BFS Marine Finance in unlocking that growth for smaller businesses within it. Historically, the sector has had a high barrier to entry and a limited number of lenders servicing the market, so we hope this transaction will allow BFS Marine Finance to support more businesses and help drive availability and competition in the process.”
They added:
“BFS Marine Finance is part of Bibby Financial Services (BFS), a subsidiary of The Bibby Line Group, one of the UK’s oldest family-owned businesses, with a strong heritage in shipping and financial services.”
Paul Ratcliffe, Managing Director of BFS Marine Finance said:
“BFS Marine Finance combines BFS’s financing specialism with Bibby Line Group’s shipping heritage to grow our support for UK businesses. We are delighted to work with the British Business Bank and look forward to helping businesses acquire vessels to expand or upgrade existing fleets in 2025 and beyond.”
Andy Stalmanis, Treasurer of Bibby Financial Services, added:
“This transaction will undoubtedly enable us to help UK marine sector businesses grow and thrive, and we look forward to continuing to build a strong relationship with the British Business Bank.”
As noted in the update, The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank.
Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to “enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses.”
Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access “to finance programs for the UK government.”
