British Business Bank, through its ENABLE funding programme, has given asset finance provider Propel a £165m funding facility to offer capital to small UK businesses.
Propel will receive a further £275m private securitisation from Citibank and a £35 million mezzanine working capital facility given by Quilam Capital.
Mark Catton, CEO, Propel said: “We are thrilled to have completed this latest funding transaction, which marks this latest stage of Propel’s growth in our mission to provide accessible finance to SMEs across the UK.”
The asset finance company offers hire purchase, leasing and refinancing on equipment worth up to £2m. Equipment includes telecoms, commercial vehicles and industrial plant.
Louis Taylor recently was appointed the CEO of British Business Bank in June and will take over the role from interim CEO Catherine Lewis La Torre in October.
“We are delighted to be supporting smaller businesses via our ENABLE Funding programme and for Propel Finance to enter in this next stage of its development,” said Reinald de Monchy, managing director, guarantee and wholesale solutions, British Business Bank.
Recent investments from British Business Bank include a cornerstone investment into Zinc’s Fund 2 that closed £28m and a £48m commitment into JamJar’s early-stage consumer brands fund.
Innovate UK announced this week that it was increasing its funding to £1bn for the nation’s tech industry.
The UK government also announced it is investing a further £16.5m of funding into research and development in agriculture tech as part of its £270m Farming Innovation Programme.
