Pivot Secures £70m Funding Commitment
Pivot is delighted to announce it has secured a £70m combined funding commitment from Foresight Group and Quilam Capital, with Foresight providing senior debt and Quilam junior capital and equity.
Pivot, an established development finance platform, has been providing short term real estate loans since its launch in 2012, supporting hundreds of developers and clients and delivering thousands of homes and units across the UK. Pivot specialises in providing lending facilities across the development lifecycle, from bridge loans against consented land to ground up development and development exit facilities. Deep sector expertise in the management team allows for a unique, technical and bespoke lending solution for developers and borrowers. The new funding package will allow the business to continue to scale and diversify this offering and grow its loan book.
Shahil Kotecha, CEO of Pivot, commented:
“The affiliation with Quilam is more than a typical lender-borrower relationship and completing this transaction saw the synergies between the organisations and management teams harnessed. This partnership approach, and new support from Foresight, gives the business fantastic funding runway to support that market over the coming years and scale the Pivot platform.”
Quilam Capital have been invested in Pivot since December 2020 and have an established and longstanding relationship with the management team. The new investment from Quilam saw a further commitment of £40m, including significant working capital facilities to support expansion of the platforms technology capabilities and lending products. Established in 2017, Quilam is a specialist growth investor, offering experienced support to portfolio companies operating in the speciality and alternative finance market. Quilam has over £600m of funds under management, across 18 investments of which Pivot is one.
Alex Scott, Director at Quilam Capital, added:
“We are delighted to be able to continue our support for the Pivot platform with a new investment in the business and additional junior growth capital to grow the loan book. The management team and business has done tremendously well in recent years, through testing market conditions and this further investment is testament to that. Demand in the UK to fund and support quality developers and schemes is significant and the new combined funding package will allow the platform to continue to grow and expand this offering.”
Foresight Group is a sustainability-led alternative investment manager with £12.2bn of assets under management. A Senior Revolving Credit Facility has been provided to Pivot by Foresight to support the underserved SME development finance market across the UK. Foresight’s Private Credit strategy provides secured wholesale loan facilities to alternative lenders; designing bespoke facilities to enabling innovative finance businesses to scale and better serve their customers.
Oliver Bates, Senior Private Debt Manager at Foresight, stated:
“Pivot present an impressive lending proposition, which we’re delighted to support. We have a good grasp of the development finance market, and the Pivot business model stands out in terms of the people, process and data tools they use. We are committed 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. Quilam Capital were advised by Macfarlanes LLP and Foot Anstey LLP. Foresight Group were advised by Osbourne Clarke LLP.