Wells Fargo Capital Finance
The London asset-based lending desk of Wells Fargo, writing borrowing-base facilities from around £10m for UK and cross-border corporates, and expanding across Europe.
What they do
Wells Fargo's UK capital finance business, formerly Burdale Financial, lends against receivables, inventory, plant and property from the bank's own balance sheet, with more than twenty years of cross-border underwriting between the UK, western Europe and North America. Facilities start around £10m. The bank also lends wholesale to other asset-based lenders, including a $125m multicurrency line to White Oak's European business in 2025. A new head of the European business was appointed in mid-2025 as part of a stated push to expand the platform.
Where they fit in a lower-mid-market raise
At the top of a £3–15m raise and above, for a business with operations on both sides of the Atlantic, this is one of a small number of desks that can hold the whole facility on a bank balance sheet at bank pricing. It works with sponsors and with corporates directly, and it lends through turnarounds as well as into growth.
Where they are not the fit
The effective floor of around £10m puts most of a lower-mid-market raise below the desk's attention, and a small, purely domestic borrower is better served by a UK independent. Being part of a global bank, the credit process runs longer than an independent's, which is a real cost on a deal working to a deadline.
Published terms
- Pricing
- For UK; US parent ABL cited around SOFR + 200-350 bps (US context, indicative only, Low confidence)
- Speed to terms
- Not published
- Sponsored or sponsorless
- Both - corporate direct and sponsor-backed; also a wholesale lender-finance provider to other ABL funds
- Where they lend
- London-headquartered UK desk; UK public and private companies plus US/Canadian and multinational businesses with UK/Western Europe/US/Canada operations; 20+ year cross-border track record
- How they decide
- Global-bank institutional credit chain, not a small delegated desk. Every facility goes to credit committee
- Security
- A borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant
- Search funds and ETA
- No published route for search-fund or first-time acquirer borrowers
As published by the lender and last reviewed June 2026. Terms quoted on a deal are set by the credit, not by a published band.
What rules a deal out
Stated limits, taken from Wells Fargo Capital Finance’s own published criteria. A limit is where a lender starts from, not where it always ends: several of these move on a strong enough credit.
- Sub-institutional tickets below ~£10m floor
- Small standalone UK corporates outside cross-border/mid-large focus
How they sit against the category
- 11 of the 40 publish an indicative price at all; it is one of them.
Counted across the 40 asset-based & asset-finance lenders 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 Wells Fargo Capital Finance write?
Published facilities run from £10m. A band is what a lender states it will do, not what it will do on a given credit.
What security does Wells Fargo Capital Finance take?
On the published terms, a borrowing base over receivables, inventory and plant. What a lender takes on a given facility is set in the documents, not by a published stance.
Does Wells Fargo Capital Finance lend to search funds or ETA buyers?
Not on the published evidence. Wells Fargo Capital Finance 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 Wells Fargo Capital Finance lend to companies without a private-equity sponsor?
Yes. Wells Fargo Capital Finance 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 Wells Fargo Capital Finance lend?
London-headquartered UK desk; UK public and private companies plus US/Canadian and multinational businesses with UK/Western Europe/US/Canada operations; 20+ year cross-border track record.
On the record
February 2025: Closed multicurrency ABL facility up to USD 125m for White Oak Europe / White Oak Commercial Finance to fund lending to UK and Irish borrowers - lender-finance, not corporate ABL.
July 2025: Tom Weedall appointed Head of Wells Fargo Capital Finance EMEA; described as a renewed push to expand ABL presence across EMEA.
2025: Wells Fargo #1 left-lead arranger of syndicated ABL, ~USD 76bn commitments across 850+ clients - group-level, US-weighted.
Sources: sites.wf.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.