Newport-based independent lender Henry Howard Finance has agreed a £51m asset finance facility under the British Business Bank’s Enable Funding programme.

The facility, which is 50 per cent guaranteed by the European Investment Fund, will allow Henry Howard to extend its asset finance funding to a larger portfolio of smaller UK businesses.

Henry Howard, backed by investor Cabot Square Capital and based in Newport, is the first South Wales-based lender to become a partner of the British Business Bank.

It has been providing finance to small businesses for more than 20 years and last year it saw its lending grow to more than £70m from £40m. It aims to continue its expansion throughout 2016.

One firm benefitting from HHF’s asset finance solution is Caldicot Fleet Maintenance Recovery, which over five years tripled in size following the purchase of a number of new vehicles made possible by HHF’s support. It now has 50 heavy and light recovery vehicles up from just six trucks in 2011.

The British Business Bank is currently supporting more than 1,100 businesses across Wales with more than £110m of finance. The delivery of this facility through the Enable Funding programme will continue to build on past successes and help businesses across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to scale up and grow.

Mark Crook, co-founder and chief operating officer at Henry Howard Finance, said: “We are delighted to be working with the British Business Bank to boost much needed funding for SME asset procurement.

“Access to asset finance is a major barrier to growth for many small businesses. We hope the new facility will remove this barrier and allow more SMEs to grow and prosper.”

Keith Morgan, British Business Bank CEO, said: “Henry Howard Finance has a proven track record in providing much-needed asset finance to small businesses and this facility will help it significantly increase its asset finance lending to smaller businesses across the UK.

“This is the third transaction in our Enable Funding programme which has now provided a total of £202m to non-bank asset finance providers.”

Pier Luigi Gilibert, EIF chief executive, said: “We are very pleased to see that our collaboration with the British Business Bank is working so well in supporting UK SMEs.

“This new EIF guarantee on the asset finance funding facility now brings the total finance available under the Enable programme to more than £200m, for UK entrepreneurs.

“In addition, we have recently further developed our collaboration with the British Business Bank by signing a new EC-backed guarantee transaction.”

The Enable Funding programme is delivered by British Business Bank Financial Services Limited – a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc - on behalf of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.