Farmer Raises £60,000 To Purchase New Storage Facility within 5 days

Expanding your business generally means spending money – whether that’s to recruit staff, invest in products or develop new premises. Rather than spend their own capital, businesses can raise finance to help fund their efforts – but there are lots of business types and sectors in which securing a loan can be difficult. 

Sole traders, for example, struggle to get any form of unsecured lending. This, coupled with lenders’ ambivalence towards certain sectors, makes raising a loan of any kind a challenge. In a recent case for our team here at Rangewell, an arable farmer sought to finance the development of a new storage shed. 

Unfortunately, despite the sound business rationale for the expansion and the farmer’s proven track record of profitability, getting the loan they needed required a new approach…

Why was there a problem?

The farmer needed to raise around £60,000 to buy additional sheds to store his equipment.

With thefts increasing in the local area our client realised he needed additional storage to keep his expensive equipment safe and secure. He also realised that keeping the equipment under cover would reduce maintenance costs.

Unfortunately, lenders were not interested in supporting the application for a number of reasons. One of the most crucial was that the farmer was a sole trader who sought unsecured lending, which is usually reserved solely for proven limited companies with strong business acumen and financial projections. 

Another barrier was the intended building itself – lenders do not see a storage facility as a desired asset as its value is more subjective than that of a more stable development project such as a residential building. 

Why we were able to help

Whilst sole traders can struggle to get unsecured lending, they can often offer security in other ways. The farmer already owned several unencumbered assets that the lender recognised as valuable – including a hay baler and wrapper. 

These assets were refinanced by the lender, which essentially allowed the farmer to borrow against the value of their owned assets.

We helped our client by first streamlining their choice down to three lenders who specialised in agriculture and asset financing. We then helped them negotiate the £60,000 loan deal and had the paperwork agreed upon in just 5 working days. 

Ordinarily, the farmer could not explore asset financing as an option – it depends on brokers like our team, who can identify receptive lenders and organise the asset refinancing agreement. 

Refinance existing assets to expand

Asset finance is usually reserved for businesses that want to purchase new machinery or equipment, allowing them to take on loans against the value of the asset. In the opposite case, when you already own a valuable asset, refinancing it can give you the cash injection you need to grow your business. 

If you’d like to explore asset finance and refinance get in touch with Rangewell today and we’ll explain the process and represent you to lenders – making it easier than ever to secure funds without the hassle.