White Oak UK, a UK non-bank lender, has pledged to provide £500m to UK SMEs and mid-corporates in 2023.
The pledge follows the firm delivering a record £465m of funding in 2022.
White Oak UK, an affiliate of White Oak Global Advisors, LLC, provides business loans, asset finance and asset-based lending. In 2022 the firm attracted over 2,000 new clients.
The company reported that businesses in London and the South East had the greatest demand for funding (32%), closely followed by the North of England (20%) and Scotland (15%).
Tax lending & ABL
One of White Oak’s products is tax lending – including VAT finance – which assisted 1,300 clients with the spread of the cost of their tax bill over 12 months to reach a value of £200m in 2022. In a statement, White Oak said it was able to approve 90% of professional customers who applied for loans.
Asset-based lending meanwhile reached £175m, accounting for 40% of total White Oak loans. The firm is looking to target tax lending of £225m and asset-based lending of £200m through 2023.
Professional services & construction
White Oak data from 2022 shows that the professional services sector saw the largest funding allocation, reaching a total of £110m, which equates to 25% of White Oak’s lending book for the year, followed by the construction sector, reaching £65m, which is 15% of the firm’s annual lending total.
Jean-Marc Torre, CEO of White Oak UK, said: “Despite economic headwinds, 2022 showed that there is demand for capital from businesses, which remain laser-focused on their long-term growth plans.”
Andy Davies, Managing Director of White Oak Leases & Loans, said: “Our 2022 lending figures show a strong spread of uptake for growth capital across all sectors and regions of the UK, from both existing and new clients.”
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