GC Business Finance has recruited two senior loan managers to strengthen its team of advisors dedicated to supporting businesses across the North West.

In their new roles, Dave Martin and Kevin Glover will be responsible for driving the social impact lender’s pipeline of new deals and delivering loans currently under the Coronavirus Business Interruptions Loan Scheme (CBILS), the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) and continuing to help businesses access the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) on behalf of the British Business Bank. They have already made a significant impact supporting North West SME’s in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to withstand business interruptions.

Dave joins GC Business Finance with over twenty years’ experience in finance, having spent the last ten years supporting businesses of all sizes to raise finance to facilitate growth, create jobs and achieve international expansion. With previous roles at HSBC, Barclays, Santander and TSB Bank, as well as factoring company Regency Factors, Dave has extensive knowledge of the alternative finance market in the UK.

At GC Business Finance, Dave will be responsible for engaging with SME business across Greater Manchester and the wider North West. He will focus on supporting businesses with their growth ambitions identifying areas where additional funding is needed to assist with job creation and business expansion.

Kevin joins with fifteen years’ experience as a relationship manager at RBS. With a background in SME trading businesses and commercial customers, Kevin will support entrepreneurs with their applications for loans, using his expertise to open up international markets to businesses in Manchester.

Committed to supporting North West-based SMEs, providing loans to businesses across the region, GC Business Finance is positioned to lend to businesses that otherwise could not access funding from mainstream lenders in a fast and responsible approach to lending.

Chris Hutchison, Head of Lending at GC Business Finance, said: “We are excited to be welcoming Dave and Kevin to the team and look forward to working with them to continue assisting businesses across the North West. During this period, the two new appointments highlight our commitment to supporting SMEs through the pandemic as well as driving our core purpose of economic growth and job creation across the North West.”

Dave Martin said: “It’s a difficult time for businesses in the North West, but entrepreneurs in our region have shown outstanding levels of adaptability enabling them to survive the pandemic. I’m grateful to have this opportunity to work with GC Business Finance to support these businesses in accessing finance, driving growth back into the UK economy through the loans available.”

Kevin Glover added: “There is an incredible host of talent and innovation coming out of this region at the moment, and organisations like the Growth Company are doing all they can to ensure that this talent does not go to waste. Businesses are proving themselves to be resilient in the face of the virus. Beyond the pandemic, I’m looking forward to helping GC Business Finance to continue to champion businesses in the region.”

A corporate finance specialist at north west accounting and business advisory firm HURST has been promoted to associate partner.

Ben Bradley joined HURST as a graduate trainee in September 2011 following a 12-month university placement.

He qualified as a chartered accountant in 2014 while working in the firm’s business services team, then joined HURST Corporate Finance in 2015 after a secondment with Moore Colson, an accountancy practice in Atlanta, USA.

Since his move to HURST Corporate Finance, Ben has advised on more than 20 transactions with a total deal value of £920m.

These have involved company acquisitions and disposals, raising growth capital, management buyouts and takeovers by employee ownership trusts, across a range of sectors including pharmaceuticals, IT services, engineering, manufacturing, healthcare and marketing.

Ben has progressed through the ranks to manager, associate director and now associate partner. His latest promotion, effective from April 1, gives him a seat on the HURST board.

Nigel Barratt, head of HURST Corporate Finance, said: “Ben’s promotion is deserved recognition for his hard work and commitment to helping clients to complete transactions even during the toughest of times.

“It is particularly pleasing that Ben has committed his career to HURST and that, in turn, we have provided him with the opportunity to learn and develop by working on interesting and challenging transactions.

“He is a great team player who is fun to work with, and we all look forward to seeing him succeed in this new phase in his career.”

Ben said: “HURST has provided me with a vast amount of experience and support in my professional development since I joined following a university placement in 2009.
“It’s a proud moment to be joining the board and I am excited for the future in my new role.

“We have a great team and I look forward to working with them and my professional network across the north west on many more deals in the future.”

His transaction highlights include advising on the 2016 sale of Comms-care, a north west-based provider of outsourced IT services, to Fortune 500 company Ingram Micro in a deal worth more than £50m.
Ben led the sale in 2019 of Cheshire-based Fastrak Retail (UK), which designs and manufactures lottery ticket dispensers and other retail point-of-sale display products, to Pollard Banknote, which is listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.
He was also the lead adviser on a deal last autumn which saw Altrincham-based engineering company Farrat Isolevel undergo a third generation family buyout in a multi-million pound transaction funded by HSBC.

Business advisory firm Quantuma has appointed Mike Horton as director as it strengthens its North West team and financial advisory practice.

Mike has over 18 years’ experience working in the financial services sector, spending over half of his career advising businesses exhibiting signs of financial distress or entering a formal insolvency process. His expertise spans refinancing, new lending for businesses, portfolio management, and advising corporates and their financial stakeholders in turnaround situations.

Before joining Quantuma, Mike managed the recoveries portfolio of peer-to-peer lender Assetz Capital for over four years. Prior to this role, he worked at Co-op Bank as a credit risk manager, and the Royal Bank of Scotland as a corporate manager within the bank’s global restructuring group.

In his role at Quantuma’s Manchester office, Mike will advise both businesses and a range of financial stakeholders across turnaround and performance improvement, options reviews, crisis and contingency planning, and cash and working capital management.

Mike’s appointment continues the strong headcount growth seen by Quantuma in the North West. Since launching in January 2019, the firm has seen over 100% rise in demand for its services across the region and has expanded to 14 members of staff, with specialisms covering financial advisory, restructuring and insolvency and forensic accounting.

Commenting on his appointment, Mike Horton said: “I’ve been very impressed by the pace at which Quantuma’s team in the North West and the firm’s wider financial advisory practice has grown over the last few years and I’m excited to be joining a firm whose reputation has gone from strength-to-strength. Businesses are entering a critical period where they will need to access advice to help them navigate financial and operation challenges post pandemic and Quantuma is well placed to support those businesses in the North West.”

Robert Parry, managing director at Quantuma, added: “The regional economy has faced significant challenges over the last 12 months and throughout this time, our team has remained committed to supporting the businesses affected. Growing our team is a natural step for us and will allow us to support more businesses than ever across the region. We are pleased to welcome Mike who will be an excellent addition to our Manchester team.”

Landmark Group has announced the appointment of another new senior team member, with development finance expert, Mark Roberts, joining as Relationship Director to lead the growth for group entity LDS.

Mark joins Landmark Group from Assetz Capital, one of the UK’s largest peer-to-peer lenders, where he spent three years and rose to the position of Relationship Director.

In total, Mark has over 20 years’ experience in the development finance space and brings a wealth of experience having transacted over £1bn debt for a variety of lenders including Investec, Nationwide and Assetz Capital.

In his new role Mark will spearhead the growth of LDS which launched a unique online proptech engine, which eliminates the growing problem of development finance for SME developers by providing a Sales Guarantee to purchase new homes built by SME housebuilders.

LDS’ new proptech engine takes less than two minutes to use, and instantly provides development finance brokers, housebuilders, or lenders with a bespoke Sales Guarantee proposal for a development.

So far in 2021, £424 million of Sales Guarantee proposals have been requested and sent out via the LDS proptech engine.

Backed by Britain’s largest housing warranty providers NHBC, Checkmate and ICW, LDS can underwrite the financing of sites, guaranteeing to acquire all units at a set price. It is believed to be the first proptech solution of its kind ever launched in the property market.

The use of Sales Guarantees can allow for a 77% reduction in cash contributions from SME developers as well as 170% increase in return on investment on a typical scheme.

LDS Sales Guarantees also remove the need for mezzanine or similar finance options by releasing interest free funds to developers on exchange. This also has a marked improvement on the time taken to process loans by removing a layer of unnecessary paperwork and legal requirements.

LDS aims to help double the number of homes built by SME housebuilders in Britain within the next five years, equating to over 25,000 additional houses and an additional £8-10bn of new development a year.

As Relationship Director Mark will call upon his experience and expertise as both a lender and broker in the development finance markets to help LDS further grow their relationships in both sectors.

Mark will also be responsible for managing the burgeoning number of brokers and lenders using the LDS Sales Guarantees online engine.

Mark joins at a time of accelerating growth for LDS parent, Landmark Group, which had a record-breaking 2020. The group raised more than £70m of new debt, increased its core investment portfolio towards £150m value and made a number of key senior hires.

Commenting on his appointment he said:

“I had become aware of the LDS offering as part of my former role in development finance and was quickly drawn to LDS’ mission to reduce risk for lenders, brokers and developers to help SME housebuilders to builds thousands more homes every year.

“LDS has the potential to transform the financing of residential development. There is a huge market for Sales Guarantees with daily demand from developers, lenders and finance brokers – all looking to reduce their risk and drive returns. I was pleased to be selected for the role and have hit the ground running, bringing forward multiple new housing developments in my first few weeks.

“The use of our Sales Guarantee changes how developers and lenders approach new sites. The release of our 10% cash deposit to developers for use towards costs is an accelerator to get on site quicker, access larger sites and provide much needed new housing. I have developed a large network of finance brokers over the last 20 years which is a key target market for us. LDS is proven to increase success rates, reduce completion times and enhance fees for brokers – a compelling treble. Mark (Hawthorn) has set some very ambitious targets and I am relishing being part of LDS.”

Mark Hawthorn, CEO Landmark Group said:

“We have known for some time that a major target audience for us are finance brokers and lenders. This is a connected yet distinctly different market from the property development industry, where most of our experience and contacts are. It was key that we brought the right person in at this stage and Mark has already proven his value in record time.

“We are becoming increasingly busy, as the markets come to understand the inherent benefits of Sales Guarantees. LDS removes the primary risks of demand and pricing for developers and their lenders, instilling the confidence to bring forward much needed new housing. In the increasingly uncertain world we live in this is nothing short of market changing.”