Praetura secures £100m lending facility

• Praetura Asset Finance (PAF) Group has secured an increase in its securitisation lending facility from NatWest
• The facility has increased from £75m to £100m to underpin PAF Group’s ambitious growth plans to turbocharge SME growth across the UK

The Praetura Asset Finance (PAF) Group, comprising of Praetura Asset Finance and Kingsway Finance, part of Praetura Group’s lending division, has announced an expansion of its securitisation funding facility with NatWest, from £75m to £100m.

After renewing the facility in the summer of 2021, this is a further sign of the strength of the business and will enable PAF Group and the wider Praetura Group to increase its funding capacity to small and medium-sized businesses across the whole of the UK.

This news follows record figures across the whole of the Praetura Group in 2021, with the lending division’s loan book growing to more than £200m, with ambitions to increase that to over £300m in 2022.

Based in the North-West, Praetura Group’s lending division, which includes Praetura Asset Finance, Kingsway Finance, Praetura Commercial Finance and Praetura Invoice Finance, supports clients across a wide array of industry sectors with a range of SME funding solutions ranging from £5,000 to £15m.

Peadar O’Reilly, managing director of the Praetura lending division, said: “This is another milestone in the development of PAF Group and Praetura’s lending division, and an integral step in helping the Group drive the ambitious growth plans we have in place for 2022 and beyond. SMEs are increasingly turning to lenders who are able to offer greater empathy and flexibility to their funding decisions, something Praetura has offered since its inception”.

Katie Fazackerley, director, NatWest Speciality Finance said: “As the leading bank for UK business, NatWest is delighted to have supported the Praetura Asset Finance Group with this increase to its facility. Through its support of UK SMEs, PAF Group is supporting a segment that is crucial to economic growth, and this deal further supports NatWest’s overall ambition to help people, families and businesses to thrive.”