Commenting on the acquisition, Paul Hird, CEO of Leumi ABL, said: “This is another exciting development for the Leumi ABL team and builds on our very successful growth to date.  We very much look forward to welcoming the Coface clients who will be joining us.”

Phil Woodward, Managing Director of Leumi ABL, added: “This deal continues our growth strategy and follows our purchase two years ago of the Charterhouse Commercial Finance client book.  Since launching Leumi ABL five years ago, we’re proud to have built a strong reputation in the mid tier deal making arena.  We are very pleased to be able to extend our offering to assist the growth of these additional clients, whilst offering the flexibility, speedy decision making and personal approach for which we are known.  As with our existing clients, Leumi ABL’s full asset based lending capability will be available to support these new clients as their business needs evolve.”

Martin Risman, formerly of Coface, has recently joined Leumi ABL as Regional Sales Director where his new role will involve overseeing the successful integration of the new clients within the Leumi ABL team and providing ongoing client relationship management from the Brighton-based head office.

Xavier Denecker, Managing Director of Coface in the UK and Ireland, said: “Coface is discontinuing its receivables finance activity in the UK to focus on its core business, trade credit insurance.  We are confident that our receivables finance clients will find at Leumi ABL the business understanding and quality of service they appreciated at Coface.  We look forward to developing with Leumi ABL a strong partnership between receivables finance and insurance.”

Coface were advised and supported by Rupert Rawcliffe of Grant Thornton and Paul Scrivin-Wood of ABL Resourcing.

Article contributed by Leumi ABL

The award is the result of an independent poll amongst industry peers and marks the end of another year of growth for Leumi ABL, which also saw the company pick up the title of ‘Alternative Finance Provider’ from M&A Magazine in May.

Phil Woodward, Managing Director of Leumi ABL, comments, “2010 has been a year of extraordinary challenges for many businesses and I’m delighted to see Leumi ABL being recognised by the dealmaking community as a funding provider that can offer consistency, stability and certainty to businesses, particularly in these tough times.  We were overwhelmed by the number of nominations and would like to thank all those who voted for us.”

Paul Hird, CEO of Leumi ABL adds, “This award is particularly important to us as it demonstrates the trust we have gained from our introducers across the UK.   As we look forward to marking our fifth anniversary in 2011, our focus remains on providing the personal and flexible service for which we are known, whether completing straightforward invoice finance deals or structuring complex ABL facilities.”

Contributed by www.leumiabl.co.uk

Having steered a path through what is undoubtedly the worst global recession in living memory, Leumi ABL is pleased to look back on 2009 and report continuing growth: discounted turnover has almost doubled and both client numbers and funds-in-use have increased.

As clients seek to maximise available funding, the market appetite for structured asset-based lending facilities continues to grow.  Stock, plant and machinery are featuring in increasing numbers of deals alongside invoice finance as clients see this as a more flexible way to fund growth plans.  Now that many banks are reluctant to increase, and in some cases, continue overdraft facilities Leumi ABL has seen an increase in deal flow opportunities and this looks set to carry on.

Notable deal successes during 2009 include the backing of Walstead Investments, with its acquisition of Southernprint in July when Leumi ABL provided a £4 million facility in financial support.  Another significant print sector deal came in October with a £25 million working capital facility to a major UK printing group.

Supporting niche manufacturing businesses, Leumi ABL provided a £2.75 million confidential invoice discounting facility and a £200,000 stock line to two of Domes of Silence Group’s subsidiaries: Aluminium Shapes and Windmill Extrusions.  In a deal completed in November, Leumi ABL and its parent, Bank Leumi (UK) Plc, together provided a range of acquisition and working capital facilities to Polestar Foods to support their acquisition of the non-branded frozen desserts business of HJ Heinz Frozen & Chilled Foods.

Finance providers who can demonstrate trust, agility and flexibility are making a real impact, and have the potential to build a greater presence in the market as opposed to their position pre-crunch.  Many banks are moving into what they perceive as the higher value market, particularly with invoice finance where there has been a degree of consolidation.  Leumi ABL is exploiting this opportunity with the recent launch of Leumi Invoice Finance, tailored to the needs of smaller businesses.  The combined facilities of Leumi ABL, Leumi Invoice Finance and Bank Leumi (UK) now mean that clients can be supported with funding solutions at all stages of their business life cycle.

With the mood in the market more upbeat than at this time last year, we are funding new fledgling companies out of the recession and seeing many successful businesses which have been hampered by their bank’s reluctance to support them through tough times.  Real recovery may be slow to emerge, but we are seeing many good businesses across the UK that are well placed to thrive.

Due to the challenges of the past year, clients and their introducers are now looking for more certainty with any deal.  There is very little speculation in the market at present and this is likely to remain for a considerable time.  Introducers are looking for funding providers they can truly work with and who are serious about doing business.

As we enter 2010, Leumi ABL has a full pipeline of transactional work and much to build on as the economy begins to emerge from recession.

Article contributed by Phil Woodward, Managing Director, Leumi ABL

Email: pwoodward@leumiabl.co.uk
Tel: 01273 716202
Mob: 07900 802774
Website: www.leumiabl.co.uk