Alternative lender first accredited for scheme
AN ALTERNATIVE lender is understood to have been the first in the UK to be accredited to provide loans through the government’s Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS).
ThinCats, which provided investment for mid-sized SMEs, has been added to the scheme set up to help big businesses suffering cashflow problems caused by the pandemic.
CLBILS is targeted at businesses with a turnover of more than £45 million and offers loans, revolving credit facilities, invoice finance and asset finance.
The maximum amount available through CLBILS to a borrower and its group has been increased from £50 million to £200 million.
The CLBILS funding is being used by ThinCats initially to support businesses that have an existing ThinCats loan.
Plans to make the scheme available to new borrowers could be announced at a later date.
Almost one million businesses across the UK have benefitted from £40.72 billion in loans and guarantees to support their cashflow during the crisis, overseen by the British Business Bank.
That includes 921,229 Bounce Back Loans worth £28.09 billion, more than 50,000 loans worth more than £10.5 billion through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and £2.1 billion through CLBILS.
New figures for the Future Fund show that, to date, there has been £236 million worth of convertible loans approved for 252 companies since the fund opened for applications on May 20.
ThinCats chief executive Amany Attia said: “We are delighted the British Business Bank has approved ThinCats as the first non-bank lender accredited for CLBILS term loans. Our initial priority is to support our existing borrowers, who we know well and can therefore help most quickly.
“Our focus remains on supporting mid-sized SMEs. However, we found some of our larger customers with turnover greater than £45 million also require funding, which we cannot provide under our existing CBILS accreditation.
“It made sense, therefore, to apply for the CLBILS accreditation to enable us to extend our support to slightly larger businesses.”