Pivot Finance

Pivot expands funding lines to build out its bridging and development offering




Pivot has announced that it has boosted its funding lines to be used to underwrite unregulated bridging loans and build outs its bridging and development finance offering.

The specialist lender has agreed to a new £15m investment from Quilam Capital.

The funding will support the senior facility Pivot has renewed and enhanced with Shawbrook Bank, as it targets taking a larger share of the bridging development finance market in 2021.

There is also a specific capital contribution being made by Quilam to enable the business to grow its operating model and its data analysis tools.

Since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Pivot has been more focussed on its existing clients and loan book, but will now be offering new products in response to “favourable market conditions”.

“The affiliation with Quilam is more than a typical lender-borrower relationship and, while completing the transaction during lockdown had its challenges, the synergies between the organisations and management teams were harnessed,” said Shahil Kotecha, CEO at Pivot (pictured above). 

“This partnership approach, and continued support from Shawbrook, will be vital in growing the Pivot business in 2021 and beyond.”

Vishal Dixit, head of business development, commented: “We are excited to re-engage with our intermediary partners and customers to find the right solutions to their lending needs. 

“With strong backers who believe in our offering, we can continue to provide competitive bridging products secured against residential and commercial properties and can leverage our deep development experience to build out this offering, providing a variety of competitive ground-up and refurbishment products.”

Marc Sefton, partner at Quilam Capital, added: “We are excited to be able to add Pivot to our roster of portfolio companies. 

“We have known the management team for a while and have been particularly impressed by how Pivot underwrites transactions, using tools that we haven’t seen across the market. 

“The result has been a strong performance of its existing loan book, and we will be working with the team to build on this solid foundation and accelerate growth materially in 2021 and beyond.”

Warren Mutch, senior relationship director at Shawbrook, stated that it was delighted to continue to support Pivot.

“The fact that we were happy to extend with them again shows our commitment to the business and their desire to build out their development proposition, which will be key in providing liquidity to the much-needed SME developer market.”

Pivot was advised on the transaction by a cross-practice team from Fieldfisher LLP, led by banking partner Robin Spender, and debt advisory support by the Pilcher Group, led by Ross Bryan.

Simon Pilcher, managing director at Pilcher Group, said: “In bringing Quilam and Pivot together, we are delighted to have enabled a powerful combination with Shawbrook to provide much needed, highly professional lending in the underserved UK SME market. 

“We will continue to work with all parties to substantially grow the business well into the future.” 

Pivot has been providing short-term real estate loans since its launch in 2012 and has provided over £200m across facilities secured against assets throughout England and Wales.

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