Cabot Square Capital has acquired a majority stake in MSP Capital, a specialist provider of bridging and development finance based in the south of England.

Founded in 1990 as a family business, MSP Capital now has a loan book of over £150m.

Alongside the equity transaction, MSP Capital has also increased its committed senior funding line to £90m, with NatWest joining Shawbrook Bank and funds managed by Insight Investment as senior lenders to the group.

Martin Higgins, managing director of MSP Capital, said: “The MSP team is delighted to welcome Cabot Square Capital as our new equity partner, and NatWest into our lender group.

“It is important for our business to have partners with the same confidence as us in the specialist finance products we provide to property investors and developers across the UK. Our new capital structure will help us deliver our differentiated relationship-led service to even more borrowers.”

Richard McDougall, partner at Cabot Square Capital, added: “Martin and the team at MSP have built a very successful business serving SME property investors in the south of England. We are delighted to be partnering with MSP to support them on the next phase of their growth plans.”

MSP Capital was advised by the financial services corporate finance team at EY.

Ian Cosgrove, partner at EY, said: “EY is delighted to have supported MSP Capital in securing a major investment from Cabot Square Capital and putting in place larger and more flexible debt funding to support their business plan.

“The combined sell-side and debt raising process enabled MSP Capital to have both equity and debt funding committed at closing, leaving the business well-placed moving into 2019 and beyond.”