• Funding will be used to support the Company’s growth – enabling it to provide more loans across Northern Ireland and Ireland
• This announcement follows Foresight’s recent launch of a fund dedicated to investing in SMEs in Northern Ireland
• This takes Foresight’s committed capital to the alternative lending sector to over £400 million

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Belfast, January, 2024: Foresight Group (“Foresight”) a leading listed regional private equity and infrastructure investment manager, has provided a senior debt facility to Belfast Commercial Funding (“BCF” or the “Company”), an alternative lending business supporting Northern Ireland and Irish developers and SMEs.

Headquartered in Belfast, the Company offers secured loans of up to £5 million across four products: property bridging, property development, SME and agricultural loans. Founded in 2014, the BCF team has significant experience in supporting borrowers in a timely and efficient manner across many sectors. The Company has a strong track record having already written over 80 loans across the island of Ireland and it is viewed as an experienced funder in Northern Ireland, seeking to address the supply and demand imbalance in funding for SMEs.

With its new lending capacity, BCF plans to grow its loan book and provide much needed financing to borrowers across the island of Ireland.

Adam Dickson, Head of Underwriting at BCF said: “We are delighted to have secured the additional facility from Foresight, which increases our lending capacity. This additional line of funding will enable us to broaden our real estate offering and support more SMEs, house builders and entrepreneurs across the island of Ireland.

“At a time when many businesses are experiencing difficulties in accessing funding from mainstream lenders, and new home completions are continuing to fall short of annual targets, Belfast Commercial Funding is working to address these issues. Businesses require additional liquidity and we are excited to be working with Foresight. We believe their approach and principles to lending fit with our business. We look forward to supporting our existing customers and continuing to grow our customer base.”

Dan Lawson, Senior Private Debt Manager at Foresight, commented: “We have ambitions to continue to grow our asset backed lending portfolio and we are delighted to be partnering with BCF. The team is highly experienced and has built a successful business by providing flexible funding to an increasingly underserved market. We look forward to supporting the team in its next phase of growth.”

Foresight’s Private Credit strategy provides secured wholesale loan facilities to alternative lenders; designing bespoke facilities to enabling innovative finance businesses to scale and better serve their customers.

 

ENDS

 

Advisers to the Company:

Corporate Finance:                          Bayhead Advisers, Grant Thornton NI

Legal Advice:                                      Millar McCall Wylie

 

Advisers to Foresight :

Financial DD :                                     T.Mistry & Associates Limited

Legal Advice :                                     TLT LLP

Management DD :                             Catalysis Advisory Limited

Insurance DD                                      Lockton Companies LLP

Cyber DD                                             KryptoKloud Limited

 

Notes to Editors

 

For more information contact:

Chris Barry, Influential: Barry@thisisinfluential.com / +44 (0)7733 103 693

Lucy Sherwood, Foresight Group: marketing@foresightgroup.eu / +44 (0)20 3667 8100

 

About Foresight Private Equity

For close to four decades and through multiple economic cycles, Foresight has partnered with growth companies to achieve their ambitions, enable local economies to thrive and create the high-quality, sustainable jobs that will power tomorrow’s economy.

Across the UK and Ireland, Foresight’s Private Equity division supports companies with investments up to £10 million. Foresight Venture Capital invests into the most disruptive companies led by the most exciting entrepreneurs across deep tech, enterprise software and innovative technologies. It’s Growth and Buyout team invests up to £10 million to support company founders and management teams with their growth ambitions or to enable equity release. Its Private Credit team provides debt capital to alternative finance businesses that are providing bespoke financing solutions in sectors where traditional lenders are reluctant to support.

Located across the UK, Ireland, USA, UAE and Israel, Foresight’s Private Equity team combines its cross-sector expertise, international reach, and local and global connections, to provide operation insights, guidance and connections to the companies it supports.

About Foresight Group Holdings Limited

Foresight Group was founded in 1984 and is a leading listed infrastructure and private equity investment manager. With a long-established focus on ESG and sustainability-led strategies, it aims to provide attractive returns to its institutional and private investors from hard-to-access private markets. Foresight manages over 400 infrastructure assets with a focus on solar and onshore wind assets, bioenergy and waste, as well as renewable energy enabling projects, energy efficiency management solutions, social and core infrastructure projects and sustainable forestry assets. Its private equity team manages eleven regionally focused investment funds across the UK and an SME impact fund supporting Irish SMEs. This team reviews over 3,000 business plans each year and currently supports more than 250 investments in SMEs. Foresight Capital Management manages four strategies across seven investment vehicles.

Foresight operates in eight countries across Europe, Australia and United States with AUM of £12.1 billion*. Foresight Group Holdings Limited listed on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange in February 2021 and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 index. https://www.foresightgroup.eu/shareholders

*Based on unaudited AUM as at 30 September 2023.