Assetz Capital has issued loan facilities totalling £370m to UK SME businesses through CBILS, following its accreditation last year.
Funding for this CBILS lending has been led by Nordic finance provider Aros Kapital, an ongoing institutional funding partner to Assetz Capital.
Over 75% of the total sum the lender provided under CBILS went to regions outside London and the South East, which helped fund 2,000 new homes across the UK.
SMEs supported included Forge Care, which faced losing the opportunity to develop a new facility in Warwickshire due to the pandemic.
The CBILS funding has also led to the construction of a childcare facility in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, set to accommodate 20 children and create around 80 jobs — with care being a sector of continued focus for the lender.
Another SME borrower, Olam Holdings, received funding from Assetz Capital to complete the delivery of five family houses in Warrington.
Stuart Law, CEO at Assetz Capital (pictured above), said: “CBILS has been hugely successful in getting funds to the SMEs that needed it.
“The pandemic hit many SMEs hard, but arming specialists like ourselves with a government-backed scheme was a solid strategy that has paid off.
“Our substantial track record has allowed us to attract institutional investors like Aros Kapital as long-term funding partners, meaning SMEs across the UK have an alternative to the banks when it comes to accessing finance.”
Assetz Capital aims to continue helping UK SMEs as the UK moves into recovery phase, and has applied to the British Business Bank to become a lender under its Recovery Loan Scheme, with the ongoing commitment of funding from Aros Kapital.
Stuart added: “Our loan issuance run rate approached £700m annually in the pandemic and, even though the CBILS deadline has now passed, together with our funding partners we plan to build on that level of support for SMEs based on a very healthy pipeline.”
Gustav Rocklinger, CEO at Aros Kapital, commented: “We are delighted with our ongoing relationship with Assetz Capital and are looking forward to expanding our partnership.
“As evidenced by the pace of our deployment under CBILS, leveraging our joint underwriting capabilities, we believe that we are in a very good position to continue to deliver attractive financing solutions across sectors and at significant scale to UK SMEs.
“The UK SME market is a core growth area for our business, and we will continue to build our market presence in collaboration with Assetz Capital.”