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Kingsway Finance secures new £10m funding facility to help fund UK SMEs

Press release 04 May 2023

Kingsway Finance, part of Praetura Group’s lending division, has announced a new £10m block discounting funding facility from British Business Investments.

According to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets Report, access to finance is one of the most significant challenges smaller businesses face in developing and expanding their business. This new £10m facility from British Business Investments will enable Kingsway Finance to increase its funding capacity to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.

This news follows record figures across the whole of the Praetura Lending Division in 2022, for the second consecutive year. The division’s combined loan book has grown to more than £330m, with ambitions to increase that significantly in 2023. Kingsway Finance also announced their formal accreditation as a lender for the new iteration of the government-backed Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) by the British Business Bank in February this year.

Based in the North-West, Praetura Group’s lending division, which includes Praetura Asset Finance, Kingsway Finance, Praetura Commercial Finance, Praetura Invoice Finance and Zodeq, supports clients across a wide array of industry sectors with a range of SME funding solutions ranging from £5,000 to £25m.

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.

Over recent years at Kingsway Finance we have seen the range of businesses our funding has been able to assist significantly increase. This new funding facility from British Business Investments will enable that trajectory to continue, so that more brokers and their SME clients can benefit not only from the funding we offer, but the exemplary service levels that we pride ourselves on providing. Paul Bradbury Commercial director of Kingsway Finance
SMEs need funding on the right terms and at the right time, delivered by lenders who will ensure the needs of each individual business are prioritised. This new facility with British Business Investments will help more brokers, advisers and their SME client fulfil their potential. Peadar O’Reilly CEO of Praetura Group’s lending division
This £10m block discounting agreement with Kingsway Finance supports British Business Investments’ mission to increase the diversity and supply of finance for smaller businesses in the UK. Independent operators like Kingsway Finance help diversify the UK’s smaller business finance markets and provide more choice for businesses. We look forward to continuing to work with Kingsway to help smaller businesses across the UK get funding for the assets they need to grow. Judith Hartley CEO, British Business Investments

Further Information

Notes to editors

About Praetura Asset Finance Group

Founded in 2013, with a team of directors boasting over 100 years’ experience in the asset finance sector, Praetura Asset Finance (PAF) Group offers alternative lending solutions to SMEs across the UK. The PAF Group includes Praetura Asset Finance Limited and Kingsway Asset Finance Limited. It is one of the UK’s largest independent asset-backed lenders with a loan book over £190m.

About British Business Investments

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 business and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economy advantage from the government. Find out more at bbinv.co.uk.

The Bank and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, the British Business Bank plc or its subsidiaries or any other party of Kingsway Finance or its products or services.

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