UK Agricultural Finance has struck a deal that brings in investment that will provide capital enabling the business to expand its loan book by £150+ million.
And a delighted Robert Suss, co-CEO and co-founder of UK Agricultural Finance (UKAF), says the important funding will help farmers "diversify, sustain, grow and improve" their businesses.
Suss says he hopes that the investment, which comes from one of the UK’s leading institutional investors, will allow UKAF to build on the success in its bridge finance offering. This in turn will help the company provide much-needed term funding for the rural community.
UKAF is now providing capital from three months to seven years, secured against agricultural land and property to help farmers diversify, acquire more land, build renewable energy projects, restructure, buy more livestock, help families with generational transfer and provide tenant farmers capital to purchase their farm. Suss said:
“This investment will provide capital enabling UKAF to expand it loan book by £150+ million and is an important development.
“This additional capital enables us to provide loans up to seven years to help farmers diversify, sustain, grow and improve their businesses. Securing this funding is a testament to the strength of our team, risk management and business model.”
“We are thrilled that this funding enables us to continue grow our activities with the UK farming sector making a difference by giving more customers the access to finance they need.”
UKAF is a specialist lender for the agricultural sector, providing traditional, responsible lending to farmers with a range of non-regulated loans secured against agricultural land and property across England, Scotland and Wales.
The latest development comes a week after Suss announced that the business had become the first sector specialist lender included on the NatWest Capital Connections panel.
The move meant that the specialist agricultural business finance company joined a select group of leading alternative finance firms on the panel -- the tenth lender to join the panel and the first industry specialist.
As a result, Capital Connections, which helps SMEs access alternative sources of capital outside of traditional financial backing, can for the first time offer a new source of lending to their customers in the farming community.
At the time, Suss said:
“We are thrilled to be the first sector specialist lender included on the Capital Connections panel. We understand the pressure on British farmers to be globally competitive, innovative and eco-friendly is greater than ever.
"This will enable us to provide more rural businesses and farmers with vital access to capital to enable them to diversify, sustain, grow and improve their businesses.”