Travers Smith advises Paragon Bank plc on a speciality finance facility secured by CBILS loans

Last month, Liberis was approved for accreditation by the British Business Bank to provide term loans to small businesses across the UK under the Government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), launched in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The senior debt facility has been amended to support the origination of loans under CBILS to small businesses.

Travers Smith also advised on the original facility in 2018, which supports Liberis in providing funding to small businesses based on their future credit and debit card sales. The funding is repaid from a pre-agreed percentage of the business’ customer card takings.

Paragon lends against a wide variety of underlying asset classes originated by the client in both the commercial and consumer finance sectors, with facilities secured on the underlying customer receivables. This deal is one of the first to incorporate loans originated under the newly-launched government schemes as the underlying asset class.

The Travers Smith team was led by Finance Senior Counsel Jamie Parish and Partner Charles Bischoff with support from Associate Andrew Surgey and Trainee Jack Meegan.

Jamie Pickering, Director – Structured Lending at Paragon Bank, said: "We are delighted to continue our relationships with both Liberis and Travers Smith. The original facility was the first transaction for our team and our continued partnership with Liberis can now help to provide vital support to UK SMEs during these challenging times."

Charles Bischoff, Finance Partner added "The asset classes involved in the structured lending market continue to increase and diversify. With the introduction of CBILS, we are pleased to have had this opportunity to work with Paragon to rapidly identify an innovative, structured solution that meets the requirements of all parties and ensures small businesses can continue to access financing."

Liberis was advised by Osborne Clarke LLP.