A new commercial business lender has arrived in Northern Ireland with a £300m budget to lend to small and medium sized businesses across Ireland over the next three years.

Capitalflow Commercial Finance, which has been launched with offices in both Belfast and Dublin, is headed up by Harry Parkinson, who formerly led Northern (now Danske) Bank’s invoice finance operation in Belfast before setting up Close Brothers Commercial Finance back in 2007.

Since opening its doors in April, Capitalflow, funded by London based equity fund specialists Pollen Street Capital, has already lent more than £10m to businesses across Northern Ireland through a mixture of asset finance, invoice finance and asset based lending.

“We’re very excited about the opportunity we have to help businesses here in Northern Ireland,” said CEO of Capitalflow, Harry Parkinson.

“There is a massive gap in the market for so called ‘alternative’ lenders and the appetite for borrowing is there; which is proven by the fact we’ve already written deals worth more than £10 million to local SMEs.

“I have a 22-strong team in place across Ireland and it’s the strength of our collective experience along with a very competitive offering that will set us apart from others in the marketplace.”

Parkinson’s senior team in Northern Ireland includes Sales Directors Diane McGregor (nee Woodside), and Marc Hawthorne, both of whom have extensive experience in corporate and commercial lending.

“Our focus is on asset and invoice finance but we’re also offering asset based lending (ABL) directly against property and inventory; this offering is unique to the marketplace.

“The other big benefits we’re offering are prompt credit decisions, highly competitive loan to value ratios and the ability to completely tailor a finance solution to suit the individual business. That’s something I don’t think you’ll ever see from the big banks.

“We will lend to a broad spectrum of SMEs, including start-ups and early stage operators as well as established businesses, it’s a case of looking at the potential of a business and making a decision on that basis.

“We’ve got great support from Pollen Street Capital, who see this market as a huge growth opportunity. We’re in this for the long haul and we think we can make a big difference to how businesses here are funded.

“We have an initial £300m in the funding pot, but our ambitions don’t end there, we have serious plans for continued development,” added Mr Parkinson.