Aldermore Bank
A FirstRand-owned UK challenger bank that lends to SMEs through asset finance, invoice finance, asset-based lending and SME commercial real estate.
What they do
Aldermore is a deposit-funded UK challenger bank (founded 2009, HQ Reading, owned by South Africa's FirstRand since 2018) whose business lending runs across four secured lines: asset finance (hire purchase, finance/operating lease, refinance), invoice finance, asset-based lending (ABL) and SME commercial mortgages. Its ABL proposition funds against the combined value of debtors, plant and machinery, inventory and property, and is positioned for larger SMEs undertaking event-driven change such as MBOs/MBIs, acquisitions, growth and restructuring. Invoice finance advances up to 90% of outstanding invoice value as working capital. It operates digitally and through intermediaries, with no branch network, and carried total customer lending of £15.3bn at 30 June 2024.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Aldermore is a fit in a 3–15m raise when the requirement is collateral- or working-capital-led rather than cash-flow-led: a receivables book to monetise (invoice finance), a hard-asset base to fund or refinance (asset finance against plant, vehicles, equipment), or a combination of debtors plus fixed assets and property that an ABL structure can wrap — typically around an MBO/MBI, bolt-on acquisition, or a restructuring where availability is driven by security coverage. For asset-rich lower-mid-market borrowers (manufacturing, distribution, haulage, construction, wholesale), it offers a clearing-bank-style secured solution with specialist appetite and intermediary access.
Where they are not the fit
Aldermore is not a cash-flow or EBITDA-leverage lender, so it is the wrong counterparty for unsecured term debt, sponsor-style unitranche, or growth-leverage against earnings where tangible collateral is thin — for example asset-light services, software or early-stage businesses seeking a multiple-of-EBITDA facility. Its lending is secured and availability is collateral-driven; borrowers needing structural flexibility, mezzanine, or quasi-equity sit better with a private credit fund or a unitranche provider. Facility scale is also oriented to SME ABL and asset finance rather than large bespoke leveraged tickets.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Service charge from ~0.4% (confidential discounting) or 0.7% + discount fee on advanced balance; cheapest specialist CID in £250k-£500k turnover bracket per MarketInvoice
- Speed to terms
- Fast - facility setup typically ~7 days (few days to few weeks); funds within 24h once live
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Both - backs sponsorless MBO/MBI and corporate acquisitions; structure-agnostic ABL
- Where they lend
- UK-wide; intermediary network
- How they decide
- Relationship-/intermediary-led; delegated authority by ticket, committee for larger ABL. Not publicly detailed
- Security
- Receivables
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package; Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit, by facility
- Personal guarantee
- Required on some facilities and not others
- Search funds and ETA
- Lends to search-fund and entrepreneurship-through-acquisition buyers on the published evidence
As published by the lender and last reviewed July 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
The desks that lend
Aldermore Bank lends through 6 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether Aldermore Bank lends, but which of these would own it.
Asset-based lending (multi-asset)
- Facility
- from £1k
- Security
- Borrowing-base + debenture; debtors + P&M + inventory + property combined
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package
- Funds
- Acquisition · Growth · MBO · Refinance · Turnaround
- Rules out
- Needs fundable assets; Asset-light businesses not a fit; Not a cashflow/EBITDA lender
Invoice finance
- Facility
- from £1k
- Security
- Receivables; advance up to 90% of invoice value
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package
- Funds
- Acquisition · Growth · MBO · Refinance
- Rules out
- Minimum turnover generally ~£750k
Invoice finance (confidential ID + factoring) + asset based lending
- Security
- Receivables
- Covenants
- Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit
- Funds
- Acquisition · Growth · MBO · Refinance
- Rules out
- Min turnover ~£250k (ID) or £750k (some invoice finance); No selective/spot factoring
Hire purchase / finance lease / operating lease
- Facility
- up to £50m
- Security
- Secured on financed asset (HP/lease title); PG likely on SME corporate
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Asset inspection required over £100k; Not an EBITDA/cash-flow lender; Not acquisition/LBO finance
Asset refinance / sale and hp-lease-back
- Facility
- from £500k
- Security
- Fixed charge on refinanced hard assets; up to ~80% of valuation (£25k-£150k); additional security may be required over £150k
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Hard assets only (asset age/condition/usage tested); Asset inspection required over £100k
Wholesale / block / vendor funding
- Security
- Block/wholesale facility to asset-backed lenders/vendors, secured on underlying receivables/assets
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Counterparty is an asset-finance lender/vendor, not an end-borrower
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from Aldermore Bank’s own published criteria, beyond the ones each desk carries above. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- No appetite in adult, crypto, gambling or weapons
How they sit against the category
- Its published ceiling of £50m is among the 4 highest of the 42 challenger and specialist banks here.
- 18 of the 42 publish an indicative price at all; it is one of them.
- It lends through 6 distinct desks, where most firms here run one or two.
Counted across the 42 challenger & specialist banks in this directory, on what each one publishes. What a lender discloses and what it will do are different things.
Questions this page answers
How large a facility does Aldermore Bank write?
Published facilities reach £50m, and the bottom of the published range is small-ticket business rather than a corporate facility. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Aldermore Bank require a personal guarantee?
On some facilities and not others: Aldermore Bank's published terms differ by product. What a lender asks for on a given credit is settled in the documents, not by a published stance.
How quickly does Aldermore Bank move?
Fast - facility setup typically ~7 days (few days to few weeks); funds within 24h once live. Published timetables describe a clean case; anything unusual in the security or the structure adds to them.
Does Aldermore Bank lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Yes, on the published evidence. Aldermore Bank lends to search-fund and entrepreneurship-through-acquisition buyers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Aldermore Bank lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Aldermore Bank lends to owner-managed and sponsor-backed borrowers alike, so a company with no private-equity backer is not out of scope on that ground.
Where does Aldermore Bank lend?
Aldermore Bank lends in UK-wide; intermediary network.
On the record
Aldermore was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Reading, Berkshire; it is a UK retail and commercial bank serving SMEs and personal customers.
Aldermore has been owned by South Africa's FirstRand Group since 2018, which acquired it for approximately £1.1 billion (completion March 2018).
Aldermore Bank Plc is on the FCA Financial Services Register under firm reference number 204503.
Aldermore's Asset Based Lending provides funding against the value of multiple business assets including debtors, plant and machinery, inventory and property, and is positioned for larger companies funding expansion, MBOs/MBIs, mergers and acquisitions, growth and restructuring.
Aldermore's invoice finance provides immediate access to up to 90% of the value of outstanding invoices as working capital.
Aldermore's asset finance comprises hire purchase, finance and operating lease, and refinance, across sectors including construction, transport, agriculture and energy/infrastructure.
For the year ended 30 June 2024, Aldermore reported total customer lending of £15.3 billion and profit before tax of £253.1 million, operating through Residential Mortgages, SME Commercial Mortgages, Asset Finance and Invoice Finance segments.
Sources: aldermore.co.uk · marketinvoice.co.uk · leasinglife.com · business-money.com · fundingagent.co.uk · law360.com
This profile is a curated reference note drawn from public sources, not financial advice or a recommendation. Appetite and terms change; a lender's fit for a given credit is established by approaching it, not inferred from a page.