SME direct lender ThinCats secures £200m funding deal

Business lending platform ThinCats has closed out the year with another deal that significantly increases its firepower.

The P2P firm has announced a £200m funding programme with BAE Systems Pensions. The deal brings ThinCats' capital under management to £800m, after the firm struck a £300m funding deal with Insight Investment (part of BNY Mellon Group) in September.

ThinCats sources loans for businesses of between £100,000 and £15m across all UK regions and sectors. According to Brismo, it has lent a little under £300m to date.

Damon Walford, chief development officer of ThinCats, said in a statement: “This additional funding programme with BAE Systems Pensions demonstrates our continued ability to link institutional investor capital to growing UK SMEs.”

“Our concerted regional focus and diversified funding sources has driven a significant increase in lending volumes – ThinCats will achieve a record level of funding in 2018.”

David Adam, CIO of BAE Systems Pensions, said that the new partnership allows the fund to invest in an asset class that offers ‘a highly attractive risk-return profile’ on behalf of its members.

BAE Pension Fund is one of the UK’s largest pension schemes.