White Oak increases CBILS support for SMEs to £180m

10 September 2020

White Oak has completed a £150m securitisation facility from Barclays Bank, with the British Business Bank agreeing this can fund its CBILS lending.

Combined with £30m of its own funds, this more than doubles White Oak’s CBILS funding available for SMEs affected by COVID-19.

Completion of the facility follows White Oak successfully distributing almost £70m of CBILS loans across 400 businesses since its accreditation to the Scheme in May.

Independent business lender White Oak has today announced it has completed a securitisation facility from Barclays Bank, with agreement from the British Business Bank that this can also be available to support White Oak’s lending to SMEs through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS).

The British Business Bank has, at the same time, increased White Oak’s CBILS lending allocation under the terms of the scheme, allowing White Oak to deploy this additional lending to SMEs in addition to the £70m already provided since the lender was accredited under the scheme in May.

White Oak provides business loans, equipment finance and asset-based lending solutions to SMEs and mid-corporate clients across the UK and offers CBILS loans from £75,000 to £5 million over either 12 or 24-month agreement terms. Under the terms of the scheme, interest is covered by the Government for 12 months, and additionally, White Oak customers can benefit from a payment holiday of up to 12-months, enabling them to recover from the crisis without the immediate financial burden of repayments.

The innovative asset-backed warehouse facility was developed in partnership with Barclays under an accelerated timeframe, being structured to accommodate the unique requirements of CBILS and White Oak’s product suite.

With offices in London, Glasgow, Southampton, Manchester and Ewloe in Wales, White Oak benefits from national coverage, and its 100+ origination force has approved loans for SMEs and mid-sized corporates right across the country, with 79% of lending so far deployed to SMEs outside of London.

Andy Davies, Managing Director of Loans & Leases at White Oak, said:

“We combine our straightforward lending approach with on-demand local expertise to ensure that SMEs get the support they need. The completion of the new facility with Barclays will allow us to deploy more than £100m of additional CBILS loans and continue to provide the support that small businesses need in these challenging times.”

Daniel Werchola, Director of M&A at White Oak, said:

We are pleased to have successfully executed this significant transaction with Barclays on an accelerated timeframe to ensure we help SMEs, which are the powerhouse of the UK economy.”

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