Phil Woodward

Asset Based Lender of the Year - United Kingdom

Profile

Leumi ABL is the specialist asset based lending subsidiary of Bank Leumi (UK) plc, offering a full asset based lending capability to growing businesses. We provide working capital solutions by funding against invoices, stock and plant & machinery, plus trade finance and term loans. We provide funding lines of up to £37.5m and are trusted by professional introducers nationwide to structure the most effective facility for our clients.

Our comprehensive ABL product range has supported our focus on larger deals, with more clients benefiting from our five year term loans and trade finance facilities. This has enabled us to offer real flexibility to clients’ funding needs and helps to differentiate clearly our full ABL offering.

At Leumi ABL, we apply our entrepreneurial spirit and creative approach to all business opportunities to maximise the funding available. Our focus on short decision lines and continued senior involvement at all stages of our relationship with you can offer a refreshing alternative to some attitudes in larger and more traditional institutions.

We continue to build and reinforce our relationships with the Private Equity community, and are pleased to see increasing numbers of PE sponsored deals. This has created some good opportunities for our experienced team and we are building a strong reputation amongst the PE community as an ABL provider that takes the time to listen to clients, works hard at building relationships and delivers what we promise.

Our Brighton Head Office along with our regional presence across the UK enables us to support our varied client portfolio.

Recently, Leumi ABL has completed a structured ABL deal for facilities totalling £17m to support the continued growth of one of the UK’s fastest growing, privately owned snacks manufacturers, Burts Snacks Ltd (‘Burts’).

Burts is an award-winning premium snack manufacturer, producing a growing range of brand, licensed and private label snacks, driven by their ambition to deliver premium quality snacks with exceptional taste and flavour. Leumi ABL’s £17m flexible finance facility will provide ongoing working capital, together with funds for further expansion of the company’s manufacturing capability to take them beyond their current capability to produce 400 tonnes of snacks per week.

Commenting on the deal, David Nairn, Director and Company Secretary, said: “Leumi ABL came late to the refinancing project, yet even during a nationwide lockdown they quickly recognised the growth story we are on, where we are tracking to grow by 25% and breach £70m sales. Leumi ABL were adaptable and flexible in meeting our expected needs to structure the appropriate ABL facilities to support our growth plans. Working via Zoom, the deal team were able to quickly gain the lead spot and complete financial close in less than 16 weeks.”

Leumi ABL Regional Sales Director, Ryan Whitworth, added: “We had a clear mandate on what was required. With the help of David Nairn, Mike Cosby (FD) and their highly professional team we were able to structure the facility and demonstrate Leumi ABL’s refreshing approach, flexibility and timely response, enabling Leumi ABL to be the preferred funding partner. We were successful in winning the deal because we were able to extend further on the Plant & Machinery facility and were able to amortise the P&M loan over 5 years.”

At a time of continuing global uncertainty, the Leumi ABL team is confident about the strong relationships we have built in the marketplace. The focus we have on completing deals with confidence and with certainty will enable us to continue providing the creativity and flexibility that clients require to support their ambitions.