Taken as a whole, 2009 has ushered in far more business closures than fresh starts. In recent weeks, however, two high-profile moves have put well-respected business builders in the enviable – if daunting – position of putting together a brand new asset finance business.

The first is Richard Briscoe, formerly of Arkle Finance, who at the time of writing had just walked into his new office, situated in the grounds of Castle Ashby, Northampton.

He is there to build a business under the banner of Close Asset Finance, which he will take to the market as Close Business Finance, a unit of the group’s overall lending operation.

The objective, says Briscoe, is to create something very much along the lines of Arkle precursor Weatherbys Finance, which he created from scratch in 2002. Essentially, this will mean a broker-led operation with a focus on ‘soft’ assets such as catering equipment and shop and office fittings, concentrating on ticket sizes between £5,000 (€5,500) and £50,000.

The strategic resources that the new business can draw on will be more extensive than those that were available to Briscoe when building Weatherbys – the Close Asset Finance group already runs a number of finance companies with gross receivables in excess of £800 million, and has been in the leasing business for 22 years.

Weatherbys was not his first experience with growing a business. In 1994, he began his career with independent lender Broadcastle, as assistant to the company’s chief executive.

According to Briscoe, this period of his career acted as a kind of apprenticeship in how to run and develop an asset finance company. He became head of underwriting during his eight-year tenure, and saw the business grow considerably. In fact, three years after his departure for Weatherbys, Broadcastle was bought by German manufacturer Siemens for £41.5 million.

Briscoe will bring more than experience to the new venture: some of the brokers that Close Business Finance will inherit as introducers have been trusted sources for business since his earliest days at Broadcastle.

Although he stresses that he will have his eye very much more on quality then on quantity of business, Briscoe anticipates lending £15 million-£18 million in CBF’s first year. In two years, he hopes to have doubled the amount being lent, and have around 12 staff in his office – but for now, he will have to make do with setting up the phone system.

Elsewhere in UK banking, George Ashworth has an awful lot of work on his plate – but he sounds more than happy with the prospect.

No small wonder – he has just moved from a senior international vendor services role within the troubled Belgo Dutch operation Fortis Lease, where he headed up international vendor business, to the position of head of asset finance at brand new bank Aldermore.

Aldermore, owned by private equity house AnaCap, plans to grow a flourishing asset finance and leasing business from the portfolio of pre-buyout incarnation Ruffler Bank, which specialised in financing coin-operated machines.

AnaCap bought Ruffler Bank earlier this year, and combined it with other acquisition Base Commercial Mortgages to create the new lender.

According to Ashworth, the direction that Aldermore will take is not set in stone: “Keeping our options open is important as there are plenty of opportunities”. That said, “the main objective for the asset finance business”, he stresses, “is to support the bank’s overall ambition to be the UK’s number one SME lender of choice”.

Ashworth advises that there will be a focus on funding ‘hard’, tangible assets of easily determinable value, with potential for longevity. He also hinted the funding model behind the successful Ruffler coin-op business might well be applied to other sectors.

Much like Briscoe’s new business, Aldermore will also be making good use of broker introductions as it gets running – it is already benefitting from AnaCap sibling Syscap, in which it has a sizeable equity stake, as a source of good quality IT business.

Beyond that, the bank’s distribution strategy, much like its asset focus, is undecided. Ashworth is weighing up the options, but feels that, for now at least, his immediate past experience of the vendor sector will be given a rest.

More immediately useful might be his experience as operations director for Lombard, a role he took on in 2000 before going on to head up the lessor’s sales and then business development functions.

Ashworth is not suggesting that Aldermore has growth ambitions on the scale of the RBS-owned colossus – like Briscoe, he underlines the importance of writing good rather than plentiful business – but he doesn’t deny that his past responsibilities have given him a good eye for putting together a robust model for volume lending.

First on the agenda is a new IT infrastructure. Phase I is due to be complete at the end of October, laying the foundations for Phase II to be prepared for Q2 next year. “Aldermore will then be well placed to handle a number of product offerings on a scalable basis.” says Ashworth.

People also feature prominently. Aldermore is looking to recruit a number of staff, with a new business development position in the North West and a credit risk function position currently under offer.

Ashworth is keen to recruit personnel with experience of every stage of the transactional process, since Aldermore’s business model is still evolving: “We are looking to recruit people incrementally who can add value both in our initial setting up phase and thereafter”, he says.

In any case, he says, by Christmas, the new asset finance unit will have a small but professional team in place, capable of writing business with the IT and business process infrastructure that has been completed by that point. Come Spring 2010, it looks as if Ashworth will be ready to begin lending in earnest.

Contributed by Fred Crawley – Reporter, Leasing Life & Motor Finance – Leasing Life

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