Capital Bridging Finance has announced that following its acquisition by Omni Partners LLP, it has secured its first funding line through the recently launched Omni Secured Lending Fund 1 LP.
This follows the acquisition of Capital in November 2013 by Omni Partners, the London headquartered alternatives specialist set up by trading veteran Steve Clark in 2004. Omni Partners has nearly $700 million of assets under management across three funds: Omni Event, Omni Macro and Omni Secured Lending.
The Omni Secured Lending Fund launched on 1 February 2014, enabling institutional investors to directly access the UK short term secured property lending market. Instrumental to the fund’s operations is Capital, which serves as the fund’s sole origination platform and maintains responsibility for managing the entire lending process.
Since its foundation in October 2009 Capital has underwritten in excess of £125 million of aggregate lending across more than 400 discrete loans. Following the negotiation of a £50 million funding line from a high street bank at the end of 2012, Capital has seen significant growth, with 50% of total lending to date occurring within the 2013 calendar year.
This growth is set to continue into the future and the additional lending capacity provided by the Omni Secured Lending Fund heralds the next phase of the company’s growth plans. Capital plans to actively expand its distribution and product offering during 2014 by increasing the maximum duration of loans it offers from six to 18 months as well as broadening its product offering to include lending propositions it does not currently offer.
Capital has also applied to the FCA for authorisation to enter the regulated lending market. In addition to the additional funding line provided by the newly launched fund, Capital will leverage the resources introduced by Omni Partners to identify further financing sources as the company continues its expansion.
Capital’s managing director, Keith Aldridge (pictured), said: “12 months ago we increased our lending activities after securing a £50 million funding line with a high street bank. With this capital having been successfully utilised, we realised that identifying further funding sources was vital in enabling us to continue to expand the business.
“The newly launched Omni Secured Lending Fund provides precisely the type of capital we are seeking – long-term stable capital with the flexibility to fund the full suite of loans we wish to offer our clients. We place a high value on partners who complement our lending ethos and ambition and are confident our tie-up with Omni Partners has provided us with such a partner. We are confident we can successfully deploy the capital provided by the first Omni Secured Lending Fund and look forward to working with Omni Partners on future fund vehicles.”
Clark added: “Over the last four years Omni Partners has been keeping a close eye on the growing short-term finance market and thought the time was right to strengthen our partnership with Capital. Our investors will have the confidence that they have invested in a superior asset class.
“We are delighted with the integration of Capital into Omni Partners over the last few months and with the recent launch of the new fund we are confident that investors will see the value in allocating to a vehicle that offers superior asset quality, short tenor and high yield. Omni Partners is committed to assisting Capital further develop as a serious player within the short term lending space.”