Cambridge & Counties Asset Finance: the new “traditional” asset lender on the block

Mike Oxby, C&CB’s director of asset finance (pictured above) told Asset Finance International: “Cambridge & Counties itself was recently formed in June 2012 by its two investors Trinity Hall Cambridge and Cambridge Local Government Pension Fund with the principal aim of providing real estate funding for the SME market. Since then, in addition to taking deposits, it has built loan commitments totalling £500 million.

“In 2015 the bank decided to launch an asset finance division to assist in leveraging its experience in the SME sector and offering a more complete set of finance products. Since then we have built up a team with great experience that is well connected to brokers with whom we can work to create a growing, sustainable business.”

Oxby comes with an extensive background in asset finance. Prior to joining C&CB he was managing director of Santander’s UK Asset Based Finance Business from 2009 and 2014 – where he was instrumental in building a new business providing £1.6 billion of financing to SMEs. Previously with De La Landen (Rabobank) and Hewlett Packard, he also served as executive director of the UK Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) until 2013.

Oxby has also appointed business development managers Don Smith and Geoff Delvaux-Lunn. Smith is highly experienced in asset finance with more than 30 years of working with brokers for Bank of Scotland, RBS and Lombard. He was most recently at Metro Bank.

Delvaux-Lunn has always worked in asset finance, notably in business development, credit underwriting and portfolio management for the commercial transportation, shipping and heavy plant sectors.

Oxby stressed: “We provide finance for a wide variety of assets including commercial vehicles, plant & machinery, construction equipment and machine tools. I would define us as a ‘traditional asset finance lender’ able to provide a flexible approach to underwriting whilst determined to build our book prudently.”

C&CB’s asset finance operation is based in Leicester, but has access to the bank’s offices in Cambridge, Bristol, Sheffield and Birmingham – thus providing a national UK presence.

Recent asset finance deals supported by Cambridge & Counties (which are all manually underwritten with a flexible mindset) include:

• a funding line exceeding £500,000 to acquire used plant and machinery critical to a plant hire company’s contract commitments;

• funding for a family run haulage firm’s new tipper truck structured over five years, plus funding for the vat to defer the liability until month three; and

• new computer numerical control (CNC) milling machines to boost productivity at a young engineering firm experiencing significant growth supplying parts to Midlands auto companies.

Oxby added: “We believe we can replicate in asset finance what the bank has achieved in property lending by working with brokers using a prudent but commercial approach and understanding the specific circumstances of each potential customer.”

Looking ahead, Oxby confirmed that he is keen to work with a wider range of “like-minded intermediaries who are seeking a long-standing relationship with an ambitious lender and in this way we will grow our product range and sector specialisms”.

He predicts that by the close of 2016 C&CB’s asset finance portfolio should lie between £30 million and £40 million and contain a “diverse range of assets and clients for whom we provide a complete managed level of service.”