Growth Lending strengthens Northern presence to unlock £1bn SME funding

Growth Lending, a specialist provider of growth capital for innovative, fast-growing SMEs, has reinforced its northern presence with the appointment of Sean McCormick as Director of Debt Finance, based in the firm’s Manchester office.

Alongside Associate Director Natalie Walker-Owen, Sean will play a key role in ensuring that businesses across the North West have direct access to Growth Lending’s new fund; the first of its funding partnership with Aros Kapital. This partnership will aim to deploy £1 billion in SME loans over the next five years, providing crucial funding to SMEs in key sectors such as technology, media, telecommunications, professional services and healthcare.

With a focus on deals ranging from £2 million to £10 million, the fund is set to empower businesses with the capital needed to accelerate various growth initiatives including expansion, mergers and acquisitions and investment in research and development. Since its launch, the fund has already deployed £62.5m across 12 deals, with many more in the pipeline yet to be announced.

Sean McCormick brings more than a decade of experience in financial institutions, including OakNorth Bank, Santander and Barclays, specialising in client