Investec
A specialist UK bank whose Growth & Leveraged Finance / Direct Lending franchise provides bespoke senior, unitranche and subordinated debt to growth-oriented lower-mid-market companies, both private-equity-backed and sponsorless.
What they do
Investec is a specialist bank and asset manager. For corporate borrowers in the lower mid-market, the relevant unit is its Growth & Leveraged Finance / Direct Lending team, which structures bilateral senior debt, unitranche, subordinated debt and, selectively, minority equity for growth-oriented private companies. It also runs asset-based and cashflow lending, offering revolving facilities secured against receivables, inventory, plant and machinery and property alongside cash-flow term debt. The business lends both through the bank's balance sheet and through dedicated private debt funds (its second, PDF II, closed at EUR 600m in January 2026), targeting businesses with roughly EUR 3m to EUR 50m of EBITDA across the UK, Ireland, Benelux and DACH. It serves both sponsor-backed and corporate-backed (sponsorless) borrowers.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
Investec fits when a growth-stage company in the upper reaches of the 3–15m band — or a borrower likely to scale past it — wants a single, bespoke, relationship-led facility rather than a syndicated package or a vanilla high-street loan. Its willingness to combine senior, unitranche and subordinated tranches, and to lend both bilaterally and via fund, makes it well suited to buy-and-build, MBOs/acquisitions and capex-led growth where structure flexibility matters. It is equally comfortable on sponsorless deals, which distinguishes it from many sponsor-only direct lenders. The asset-based revolver overlay is useful where working-capital intensity needs to flex with growth.
Where they are not the fit
Investec's direct lending franchise is pitched at the lower mid-market and upward (EBITDA from roughly EUR 3m), so a smaller 3–5m facility against a modest or early-stage EBITDA base may fall below its natural focus or get priced/structured for a larger trajectory. It is not a pure invoice-discounting or commodity ABL provider for the smallest companies, nor a lender of last resort for distressed or turnaround situations; the orientation is quality, growth-oriented credits. Borrowers wanting the cheapest plain senior term loan with minimal structuring are better served elsewhere.
Published terms
- Pricing
- Not published
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- EBITDA floor
- From about £2.6m (€3m published)
- Leverage
- Total to 3.5x
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Both - explicitly partners private equity sponsors AND management/entrepreneurs/owner-managed (sponsorless)
- Where they lend
- UK primary; Eurozone (Benelux/DACH/Ireland) via direct-lending platform
- How they decide
- Bilateral (single-lender); origination + structuring team with internal credit; relationship-led, not broker-panel. Authority is delegated below committee on at least part of the book
- Security
- A borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant; a debenture over the company
- 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
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
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
Investec lends through 7 separate books. Which one reads a deal decides the security, the covenant package and the band, so the question is rarely whether Investec lends, but which of these would own it.
Blended ABL + cashflow / senior / unitranche
- Facility
- £5m to £100m
- Security
- Debenture + borrowing base
- Covenants
- A loose covenant package
- Funds
- Acquisition · Dividend recap · Growth · MBO · Refinance
Integrated ABL + cash-flow lending (asset-based revolver + structured term loan)
- Security
- A borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant
- Covenants
- Springing covenant, tested only when a trigger is hit
- Funds
- Acquisition · Dividend recap · Growth · MBO · Refinance
- Rules out
- ~£3m EBITDA floor - sub-£3m EBITDA below appetite; Small standalone invoice finance/ID not the product (integrated ABL+cash-flow only)
Senior secured / unitranche direct lending (lower-mid-market)
- Facility
- £10m to £50m
- Security
- A debenture over the company
- Covenants
- Maintenance covenants, tested every period
- Funds
- Acquisition · Dividend recap · Growth · MBO · Refinance
- Rules out
- Sub-€3m EBITDA; Commodity 'market-terms' cov-lite structures
Hire purchase
- Facility
- £25k to £10m
- Security
- HP title or charge over financed asset
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Not acquisition/LBO finance; Underwritten to asset value not EBITDA
Leasing (finance / fixed-term / minimum-term / operating)
- Facility
- £25k to £10m
- Security
- Funder retains title to leased asset
- Funds
- Growth
- Rules out
- Not acquisition/LBO finance; Asset-value/residual underwriting
Asset refinance
- Facility
- £25k to £10m
- Security
- Charge over refinanced asset
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- Asset must have residual value to refinance against
Intelligent cashflow - confidential invoice discounting / working capital facility
- Security
- Secured against client receivables (borrowing base against the sales ledger); receivables must provide satisfactory security value
- Funds
- Growth · Refinance
- Rules out
- No EBITDA-based cash-flow lending - facility sized off eligible receivables, not enterprise value; Target turnover band £500k-£50m; larger corporates fall to Investec Direct Lending or GAF instead; Not a term-debt or acquisition-finance provider on its own (working capital only), though used alongside MBO/M&A events
Limits that apply across the firm
Stated limits, taken from Investec’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 £100m is the highest of the 42 challenger and specialist banks in this directory.
- Like 24 of the 42, it publishes no indicative price — a margin comes from a conversation, not a page.
- It lends through 7 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 Investec write?
Published facilities reach £100m, and the bottom of the published range is small-ticket business rather than a corporate facility. It looks for EBITDA from about £2.6m (€3m published). Published leverage runs total to 3.5x. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
Does Investec require a personal guarantee?
On some facilities and not others: Investec'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.
What security does Investec take?
On the published terms, a borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant or a debenture over the company. What a lender takes on a given facility is set in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Investec lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Investec publishes no route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers. A searcher's route to a lender usually runs through the quality of the target and the equity behind it.
Does Investec lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Investec 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 Investec lend?
UK primary; Eurozone (Benelux/DACH/Ireland) via direct-lending platform.
On the record
Investec Bank plc is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the FCA and PRA, Financial Services Register number 172330.
Investec Bank plc is registered in England and Wales under company number 00489604, registered office 30 Gresham Street, London EC2V 7QP.
Investec's Growth & Leveraged Finance offering includes bilateral senior debt and unitranches, plus subordinated debt and minority equity, supporting the mid-market for over 10 years.
Investec offers asset-based revolvers secured against receivables, inventory, plant and machinery and property, supporting businesses from c.£/€3m EBITDA across the UK, Irish and Benelux markets, with offices in London and Amsterdam.
Investec's strategy focuses on lending to high-quality, growth-oriented companies in the lower mid-market, a segment it describes as underserved by banks and fund managers.
Private Debt Investor (Investec Direct Lending: the power of the lower mid-market)
Investec Private Debt Fund II closed at EUR 600m (c. £520.7m) in January 2026, providing senior secured and subordinated debt to PE-backed and corporate-backed businesses with EBITDA of EUR 3m-50m across the UK, Ireland, Benelux and DACH.
Investec's direct lending platform has originated more than EUR 10bn across more than 380 investments over a 15-year track record.
Sources: investec.com · carlyle.com · find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk · theintermediary.co.uk · leasinglife.com · assetfinanceinternational.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.