This partnership affirms The Route – Finance’s commitment to providing increased access to funding for SMEs and a wide range of investment opportunities for our Members
London (PRWEB UK) 8 November 2016
The Route – Finance today announced a joint venture with Growthdeck, another London-based alternative finance firm. The partnership will allow both companies to provide a wider range of growth investment opportunities to their clients, as well as a greater ability to deliver funding to SMEs.
While The Route – Finance provides primarily debt-based financing through its Private Debt Platform, Growthdeck runs a tax-efficient equity investment platform which is focused on EIS and SEIS opportunities in growth sectors. Together, their clients will now have access to both equity and debt investments, thereby diversifying client portfolios while maintaining the existing company infrastructures. Furthermore, the companies will now be able to offer blended financing solutions.
Bill Fleischmann-Allen, Head of The Route – Finance, comments:
“This partnership affirms The Route – Finance’s commitment to providing increased access to funding for SMEs and a wide range of investment opportunities for our Members. I believe that there are many synergies between alternative finance providers in the UK, and that the sector will grow most successfully through cooperation and partnerships. Our joint venture with Growthdeck forms part of our progress towards a more collaborative outlook in the Alternative Finance sector. It provides each of our companies with greater resources, greater capacity, and greater access to established markets.”
Gary Robins, strategy director at Growthdeck, comments:
“We’re very pleased to be entering into this exciting partnership with The Route and we are confident that this joint offering of high interest debt and tax efficient equity investments is a very attractive mix, allowing our respective client bases to build more diversified portfolios of equity and debt offerings.”
Steve Robinson, Growthdeck CEO, adds:
“Growthdeck’s expansion plan is based on striking synergistic partnerships like this with quality advisory businesses – Route has, in recent years, built a solid reputation for offering attractive, high-yielding loan offerings, so we feel it’s a great fit. We’re delighted that the business has identified us as a preferred partner and we look forward to working closely with Route for the benefit of both client bases.”
The Route – Finance will be able to direct its Members to Growthdeck’s online platform for equity investment opportunities, and may also co-opt the portal software for its own use, facilitating the synergy of the joint venture.
The Route – Finance and Growthdeck are co-hosting an event sponsored by RBC Wealth Management in central London on November 16th to launch the joint venture. The event will provide an opportunity to introduce investors and intermediaries to both platforms.
About The Route – Finance
The Route – Finance is part of The Route – City wealth club, a wealth management company based in the City of London. The Route – Finance has provided debt and equity investment via its Private Debt Platform (PDP) and Equity Investment Ventures (EIV) Propositions since its inception in 2008. The primary focus is now on the Private Debt Platform, which provides short-term, fully-secured loans, typically between £1 and £5 million for terms of up to 2 years. Using pre-mandated Member funds, ring-fenced according to a set of mandated criteria, the PDP offers borrowers prompt initial decisions on loans with certainty of outcome for many types of projects. In a world of automation, The Route – Finance brings a personal touch to Alternative Finance. By carefully maintaining relationships with each Member of its syndicate of investors, The Route – Finance is, in turn, able to provide more flexibility to its borrowers.
The Route – Finance is a patron member of the NACFB and is a proud supporter of SMEs in the United Kingdom and beyond.
About Growthdeck
Growthdeck is a multi-channel investment platform that provides direct access to new and more established UK businesses, primarily to Sophisticated and High Net Worth investors, with minimum single investment units of £1,000.
Its focus is on long-term business viability: companies must have strong management, realistic business plans and operate in growth sectors. The majority of its investment opportunities are eligible for tax reliefs under the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) or Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS). Tax reliefs will be subject to the tax status of individual investors.
Unlike many platforms, Growthdeck provides service levels similar to more traditional private equity and venture capital firms, including professional due diligence, extensive investee business support and higher levels of customer service. This is provided by an experienced investment team with decades of combined experience in private equity (with the likes of 3i, Mitsui, Hotbed and Rockpool Investments).
Growthdeck investee businesses benefit from advice and hands-on mentoring from the Growthdeck Panel, which consists of dedicated experts with many years of experience in building and managing successful businesses across various industries. Panel members include Steve Robinson (formerly CEO of Tesco Direct, FD at Argos and Customer Director at B&Q), Kevin Bacon (former MD of the Restaurant Group and Jamie Oliver International Restaurants), Stephen Thomas (founder of Luminar Leisure) and David Harding (former CEO of William Hill).
Growthdeck Limited [FRN:731176] is an Appointed Representative of Kession Capital Limited [FRN:582160] which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K.
