Reward expands loan book with refinance deal

A specialist lender has secured a “hugely significant” refinancing package to fuel its ambitious growth plans and expand its loan book to £500 million within three years.

Leeds-headquartered Reward Funding has completed a £360 million refinancing deal, including a £100 million private securitisation from an international bank, a £150 million senior debt facility from Quilam Capital, and £110 million from existing partners Foresight and RMB.

Bosses say the funding partially refinances Reward’s incumbent debt facilities while also providing liquidity and enhanced flexibility – providing the business with a “strong foundation” to support its continued expansion and increase its lending capabilities.

Nick Smith, group managing director at Reward Funding, said: “Being able to bolster our credit lines by a further £360 million is a hugely significant deal for the business and will also benefit those companies which rely on our support to fund expansion in challenging economic conditions. 

“It gives us such a strong foundation to achieve our goal of a £500 million loan book within three years.

“Our whole ethos is built around working closely with entrepreneurs and SMEs to fund their ambition and offer a fast, agile funding solution that enables them to seize opportunities when they arise. 

“This can only be made possible by the strength of our lending, and being on course to provide our busiest year of lending gives our new and existing clients that much-needed confidence and certainty in what remains an uncertain climate.”

Jordan Blakesley, managing director at Quilam Capital, added: “Reward is a distinguished specialist lender that provides tailored asset-secured facilities to UK entrepreneurs and businesses. 

“Our relationship with management spans almost 10 years and we are delighted to be supporting Reward’s growth journey.”

Since its 2010 launch, Reward, which also has offices in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Dunfermline, has provided over £1.2 billion in funding to more than 2,000 businesses and property investors.

Interpath advised on the deal, with Ashurst and Walker Morris acting as legal counsel. 

Jack Dutton, director at Interpath, who led the transaction alongside Olivia Dunning and Niamh Valentine from Interpath’s debt advisory team, added: “We have worked closely with Reward to understand their operational model and put in place a capital strategy that would allow them to continue to offer the flexible, dependable and rapid approach to funding which has given them a pivotal role in the funding landscape for the SME community. 

“It has been an absolute pleasure working with the team on this transformational financing, which introduces new institutional funding partners to the business.”

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