Blake Morgan guides Propel Finance's funding

Leading law firm Blake Morgan has successfully guided Propel Finance, the UK's fastest-growing asset finance lender, through a monumental £1.5 billion funding round aimed at allowing thousands more small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to acquire vital equipment and vehicles. This substantial financing has gained the backing of prestigious financial institutions such as Barclays, Bank of America, Citi, and the British Business Bank.

As part of this intricate deal, Blake Morgan provided expertise on the wholesale and mezzanine facilities, while Interpath served as advisors on the new mezzanine facility. Notably, this is not the first time Blake Morgan has partnered with Propel Finance; they assisted in the lender's first private securitisation in 2022, which was part of a £500 million refinancing effort.

This collaboration highlights Blake Morgan's esteemed Banking & Finance team, featuring Partners Kath Shimmin, Natalie Coates, and Paul Duggan. Their collective efforts ensured that Propel Finance was appropriately supported across several areas, including financial regulation. Propel Finance caters to businesses acquiring essential manufacturing, transport, and construction equipment, while also backing the UK's largest resellers who provide business-critical technology and telecom solutions.

With the latest funding round, Propel Finance is poised for accelerated growth, enhancing its support for partners and customers and driving innovation within the asset finance sector. Over the past three years, Propel has lent more than £1 billion and has directly supported over 50,000 SMEs. This current funding will significantly bolster plans to more than double new lending in the following three years.

The lender's impressive performance has not gone unrecognised, as it has been lauded by Asset Finance UK's 50 list for achieving the “Fastest Sustained Growth by an Asset Finance Lender” for three consecutive years.

Reflecting on this significant achievement, Kath Shimmin, a partner in the Banking & Finance team and head of the Structured Finance Practice at Blake Morgan, expressed her pride in the collaboration, saying, “We are very proud to have worked once again with the excellent team at Propel Finance and its partners to get this latest funding round over the line. The timescale was challenging, as was the need to manage interlinked transactions simultaneously. It’s a testament to the expertise and commitment of the whole team that we completed the transaction in record time. Blake Morgan has deep expertise in banking and structured finance which the team has brought to bear in supporting this impactful deal.

“With an additional £1.5 billion of funding, this deal is the foundation for the company’s next phase of growth and will enable thousands more SMEs across the UK to access vital investment. Crucially, it forms an important part of Propel’s plans to more than double new lending over the next three years.”