ThinCats
ThinCats is a UK alternative lender — now part of Shawbrook Group — providing secured term debt of £1–30m to mid-sized owner-managed, PE-backed, and healthcare businesses for acquisitions, MBOs, EOTs, and growth.
What they do
ThinCats structures secured, flexible term loan facilities of £1–30m for mid-sized UK SMEs, with an average ticket exceeding £6m over recent years. Its core use cases are management buyouts, employee ownership trust (EOT) transactions, acquisition finance (including buy-and-build and search funds), growth capital, and refinancing. It lends across most sectors, with particular activity in healthcare, B2B services, and telecoms, and explicitly excludes speculative property development. Institutionally funded through a c.£700m warehouse backed by Citi, Barclays, and the British Business Bank's ENABLE Guarantee programme, ThinCats completed over £381m of new lending in the year to June 2025. In October 2025, Shawbrook Group plc completed its acquisition of ThinCats; the business continues to operate under its own brand.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
ThinCats is well-suited to owner-managed businesses, PE-sponsored portfolio companies, and healthcare operators seeking £3–15m of term debt for a defined transaction — an MBO, EOT, bolt-on acquisition, or structured refinancing. Their deal-by-deal underwriting, regional origination teams, and flexibility on complex capital structures make them a credible primary lender where a clearing bank would baulk at structure complexity or modest leverage. They have a documented track record in healthcare, which makes them a natural first call for care-sector MBOs and acquisitions in the lower-mid-market.
Where they are not the fit
ThinCats is not designed for very small or plain-vanilla facilities: with an average ticket above £6m, requests below £2–3m are unlikely to attract full commercial attention even if technically eligible. They do not fund speculative property development. Revolving credit facilities, invoice finance, or asset-based lending are not part of their product set. Businesses without at least two years of filed accounts and a demonstrable earnings track record will not meet their underwriting criteria.
On the record
ThinCats originated a record £381m in the 12 months to June 2025, bringing cumulative lending past £2bn; assets under management were just under £1bn.
Average initial loan size has exceeded £6m over the last three years; maximum initial ticket is £20m with follow-on exposure reported up to £35m.
ThinCats closed a c.£700m warehouse facility in September 2023 backed by Citi, Barclays, and the British Business Bank's ENABLE Guarantee programme — one of the largest dedicated funding lines for a non-bank UK lender.
Shawbrook Group plc completed its acquisition of ThinCats Group Limited on 1 October 2025; ThinCats continues to operate under its own brand.
ThinCats Limited is registered at Companies House under number 09707863; ThinCats Group Limited is registered under number 13393055. Both are based at 2 Snow Hill Queensway, Birmingham B4 6GA.
ThinCats received full FCA authorisation in August 2017.
ThinCats explicitly excludes speculative property development from its eligible sectors.
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.