Grid Finance, a non-bank lender to micro and small businesses, has opened a new channel for securing business through a new partnership with An Post. Under the agreement An Post Retailer Services, which provides a host of services to Irish SMEs, will be able to refer business customers to Grid Finance for “fast and flexible loans”, Grid said in a statement.
Grid was set up in 2014 by Derek Butler, a PwC-trained accountant. While Mr Butler originally launched the firm as a peer-to-peer lender, he changed the business model in 2019 to source money from alternative asset managers, including UK-based Fasanara Capital and Thiele Capital Management in the US.
The company, chaired by former Department of Finance secretary general and recently-elected mayor of Limerick John Moran, has issued about €150 million of loans to customers to date, according to Mr Butler. The An Post accord is aimed at helping it reach its plan to almost triple its current number of business customers to 10,000 over the next three years.
“We’re thrilled to partner with Grid Finance to bring fast and flexible loans to our business customers. This partnership is another milestone in our efforts to support the growth and development of Irish SMEs, and we’re confident that it will make a real difference to businesses across the country,” said Paul Burne, general manager with An Post Retailer Services.
The deal comes as Irish banks have also commented this year about a pickup in credit demand for loans among SMEs, half of whom have no debt as a result of significant deleveraging since the onset of the financial crisis more than a decade and a half ago. AIB chief executive Colin Hunt said last month that his bank’s SME lending rose 8 per cent in the first half of this year, which underscored the view that the sector may be “past an inflection point”.
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