Propel Finance completes £1.5bn funding round to power SME growth

Propel Finance has completed a £1.5 billion funding round, marking a major milestone in its mission to accelerate support for UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) investing in business-critical equipment and vehicles.

The new funding will significantly increase Propel’s capacity to provide tailored finance solutions across a range of sectors, including manufacturing, transport, construction, technology, and telecoms. The financing round has been backed by a consortium of leading financial institutions and investors, positioning Propel to double its lending activity over the next three years.

Propel has already lent more than £1 billion to over 50,000 SMEs in the past three years, establishing itself as one of the UK’s most dynamic asset finance providers. The company has been recognised by AFC’s Asset Finance UK 50 as achieving the “Fastest Sustained Growth by an Asset Finance Lender” for three consecutive years, underlining the scale and momentum behind its operations.

This latest funding round includes a series of significant new and extended facilities. Among them are a forward flow funding line with Barclays, a strategic wholesale funding line with Bank of America, and extended wholesale facilities with both Citi and the British Business Bank through the ENABLE Funding Programme. Propel has also secured a committed mezzanine facility with a leading global alternative investment firm, alongside increases in several receivables funding lines provided by international banks.

Legal support for the transaction was provided by Ashurst on the Barclays forward flow line, with Blake Morgan advising on the wholesale and mezzanine facilities. Interpath acted as advisor on the new mezzanine facility.

“We are delighted to work with an outstanding panel of institutional lenders and are incredibly grateful for their exceptional support and confidence in the Propel team.”

Andrei Cotonet, Director of Structured Finance at Bank of America, added: “We see significant opportunity in the UK asset finance sector and are proud to support Propel’s continued expansion and growth with this strategic funding line. We look forward to seeing the positive impact this partnership will have on businesses across the UK.”

A representative from Citi echoed the sentiment, stating: “We are pleased to extend our facility with Propel Finance, which will enable Propel to extend their financing solutions to more UK businesses.”

“We welcome this extension of their committed wholesale facility and look forward to the positive impact this funding round will provide to smaller businesses investing in business-critical assets.”