September 12, 2011|
Business Money – Receivables Review, Sept 2011
Leumi ABL
Paul Hird, CEO
Despite the continuing mood of caution in the market, over the last year we have been seeing greater confidence from our existing clients. They are beginning to grow turnover levels again and many are looking at expansion.
New business has also taken an interesting turn, in that we are seeing an increasing number of transactions and higher end refinancing opportunities, suggesting that business leaders are ready to look forward to the future. This is a significant shift since this time last year and we have been pleased to assist with a number of interesting M&A deals. Much of the increased M&A activity has resulted from businesses seizing growth opportunities born out of recession. This all creates opportunities for ABL and Leumi ABL grew both its client numbers and its portfolio size during the past twelve months.
Continuing economic uncertainty coupled with an increasing market appetite for innovative financing solutions has prompted Leumi ABL and Bank Leumi (UK) to join forces on a number of occasions. Recent deal structures have included combinations of invoice finance with trade finance, property finance or commercial banking.
ABL product awareness is increasing and there is now a greater appetite to use stock and machinery as solid collateral. This section of our book has grown and proposals coming though from corporate finance boutiques and venture capitalists are beginning to relate to larger and more multi-asset based deals.
2011 marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of Leumi ABL. Phil Woodward and I set out to make Leumi ABL a leading ABL provider in the UK market, moving between being a mid tier and high end ABL provider. With the continuing support of our introducers, we’re very pleased to say we’ve done just that.
Our ability to provide confidence and certainty in the deal making process has been a key differentiator. Short decision making lines, fast credit approvals and continuing involvement of the senior team throughout the relationship have all contributed to us winning new opportunities as well as a number of national ABL of the Year awards.
Leumi Invoice Finance, focusing specifically on those businesses with funding requirements of up to £1m, has flourished at a time when credit lines from traditional sources continue to be squeezed.
Despite the summer season, Leumi ABL continues to be busy and we have a healthy pipeline of new introductions from our introducers. Taking a consistent and selective approach to doing deals, we feel confident that the remainder of 2011 will see good levels of growth for the business which will position us well for the start of 2012.
