Praetura, the specialist SME lender, has secured a £150m back-to-back asset-based lending (ABL) facility with NatWest, strengthening its support for growing UK businesses.
The facility empowers Praetura to increase the funding capacity of its Sales Finance division, which backs businesses with a range of products including invoice discounting, ABL and cash flow loans.
The announcement builds on an existing relationship with NatWest, which was the inaugural funder in Praetura’s Sales Finance division (first launched as Praetura Commercial Finance in 2016). Working alongside an existing, longstanding sales finance securitisation facility, the NatWest partnership is a vote of confidence in Praetura’s sustained ability to deploy capital to support UK SMEs as they continue to navigate UK and global macro-economic challenges.
The ability to secure funding that helps overcome these challenges - but that is also structured to grow as business plans become more ambitious - is a key component of Praetura’s consultative proposition and is ultimately what has enabled the business to treble its loan book to £600m in the past five years.
The facility comes after a successful year for the business, supporting more than 1500 UK SMEs with £328m worth of funding in 2025. Its 150-strong team has offices across the North West, with additional presence in London, the Midlands, the South and the North East.
In recent months, Praetura has supported businesses including Northamptonshire-based glass and roofing systems manufacturer Double R with a £1.4m ABL facility to enable a management buy-in, and lifestyle furniture manufacturer Hydeline Furniture with £1.5m to support product rollout and strengthen its commercial strategy. It has also backed premium home fragrance producer Contract Candles & Diffusers as it enters its next phase of growth.
Peadar O’Reilly, Chief Executive at Praetura, said: “Closing this facility with a renowned and respected institution reflects the quality of the whole Praetura business, and empowers us to offer more extensive funding support to UK SMEs as they continue to navigate both the challenges and opportunities created by the current economic outlook.
“The entire organisation remains committed to a common goal of supporting the sustainable growth of these businesses and we are grateful for NatWest’s backing to help us do exactly that.”
Andrew Barraclough, Head of ABL Origination at NatWest, added: “We are delighted to support Praetura with this significant facility. The business has an experienced management team, strong credit discipline and an excellent track record in supporting UK SMEs. NatWest has a long history of backing specialist and alternative lenders through structured ABL and back‑to‑back solutions, helping extend funding safely and responsibly across the UK economy.”
