The European leasing ABS market is on a roll. Just weeks after Propel priced its debut deal in the UK, GlobalCapital reported that Dutch firm Van Mossel is holding a non-deal roadshow as it gears up for a debut trade of its own.
And there’s a new investor in the UK public ABS market.
On the podcast this week, host George Smith is joined by Propel’s Ian Wills and Mike Strevens from the British Business Bank to discuss Propel’s deal and why the British Business Bank bought some of the trade — its first investment in a public ABS transaction.
Only a few years ago, there were just a few issuers in Europe’s public SME securitization market.
Now, there are a multitude of ways for investors to get exposure to the sector, from Funding Circle’s traditional lending products, to Capital on Tap’s credit cards, to the growing host of leasing providers.
Building an ecosystem means more depth in the market, more liquidity and it means that transactions get away quicker and easier.
Strevens tells Another Fine Mezz: “We're going to be here to give people the confidence to issue, and I think the more issuers there are from the UK in the SME space, the better it will be and the easier it will be for [issuers] like [Propel] to print as regularly as they require.”
The result is SME lenders are better diversified, with access to cheaper and more resilient funding, making it easier to scale up a new business.
For the second half of the episode, regular podcasters Thomas Hopkins and Tom Hall return to discuss CLO managers' struggles with equity arbitrage and a record Q1 for European ABS. That conversation was recorded April 2, before the US and Iran agreed to a ceasefire.
Trade finance survey
In collaboration with TMF our headline awards sponsor, GlobalCapital is running a survey on the trade finance market. It seems like there’s enthusiasm to get deals done, so we’re keen to gather views on what the barriers to transacting are and how widespread are worries about fraud risk.
It’s nine questions only and can be completed via this link.
