Alternative finance provider ThinCats has sealed its biggest Scottish deal to date by lending £5.25 million to offshore engineering company Maritime Developments.
The Peterhead-based firm known as MDL will use the cash as working capital for its long-term development plans. The company had diversified from the fishing industry into oil and gas, and now North Sea wind farms.
The funding was arranged by Kenny Hughes, ThinCats’ business development director in Scotland, and Robert Thompson, its regional head of credit for the north of England and Scotland. The firm offers loans of up to £15 million to small businesses and has already lent £600 million to British companies.
Derek Smith, chief executive at Maritime Developments, said: “Since we launched more than 20 years ago, we have had to be quick to adapt to the ups and downs of both our fishing and energy clients. We see exciting opportunities in the subsea sector with our renewable and traditional energy customers, however, our existing finance facilities were too rigid for our growth plans.
“Once we had spoken to Kenny and Rob from ThinCats, they quickly came back with a simple flexible solution that included additional working capital. The new funding means we can be very nimble in offering our clients unique blends of purchase and rental equipment to meet their purchasing and scheduling requirements.”
ESF Capital, a spin-out from European investment firm ESO Capital, bought a 73.4% stake in ThinCats in 2015. In 2017, it unveiled a £200 million funding programme from institutional investors, including £70 million from Waterfall Asset Management.
