Amany Attia, CEO at ThinCats

ThinCats secures £160m of investment




ThinCats has announced a strategic investment in the company from Wafra Capital Partners (WCP) of £160m.

WCP has partnered with Quilam Capital on the transaction.

Over the past few years, ThinCats has lent almost £1bn to UK SMEs.

With the new investment, alongside senior bank and institutional funding, it will enable the alternative lender to provide a further £2bn.

The new capital will support its continued expansion through both larger loan sizes and new product development to scale up the volume of lending.

Following its full investment, WCP will become a significant minority shareholder in ThinCats.

“We are delighted to announce this significant investment by WCP, reinforcing its belief in our business,” said Amany Attia, CEO at ThinCats (pictured above).

“WCP is an exceptional partner with proven experience in supporting specialty finance platforms, and  shares our vision to deliver real scale of funding to UK SMEs.

 “Mid-sized businesses are feeling more confident as the economy recovers from the pandemic and are looking to rebuild working capital and expand either organically or through acquisition.

“The WCP investment provides ThinCats the certainty of funding needed to support these businesses’ growth plans."

Ravi Anand, managing director at ThinCats, added that WCP’s investment followed a thorough process of engagement with its investor community.

“We chose WCP because of their deep experience with alternative lenders and the flexible nature of its capital.

“To date, we have successfully raised £750m of lending capital.

“Now, alongside WCP’s investment, we are close to completing two senior bank funding agreements which will provide an immediate additional £500m to support UK SMEs into 2022.”

Rachid Ouaich, managing director of Europe at WCP, commented: “We have known ThinCats for a couple of years and been impressed with how they have been able to scale the business, create a profitable platform, and navigate the pandemic.

“Our capital is perfectly suited to assisting ThinCats in its next stage of growth.

“We look forward to working with our partners, Quilam Capital, and the ThinCats team over the next few years to support mid-sized SMEs who will play an important role in delivering economic growth across the UK.”

ThinCats was advised by Fenchurch Advisory Partners and CMS on WCP’s investment.

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