Reward Finance Group has completed a partial management buy-in, with group sales and marketing director Nick Smith acquiring a significant minority stake in the business for an undisclosed sum.

The transaction sees Smith (pictured) take an equal shareholding with joint managing Tom Flannery and David Jones with Johannesburg listed Tradehold, majority owned by South African billionaire Dr Christo Wiese, retaining its majority stake in the Group.

Smith said: “It’s exciting times at Reward. We have just come off the back of a record year and our busiest quarter to date, highlighting the fact that our core products are in demand now more than ever.

“I was delighted to be invited to join the equity ranks with Tom and Dave and look forward to continuing to drive the business forward with continued support from our backers.”

Flannery added: “This transaction is very much part of our long term strategic plan. Nick joined the business last year to lead our sales and marketing efforts and stage two was always about an equity stake for him. Dave and I love everything about the business and the fact that we are genuinely making a difference to business owners lives.

“We remain fully committed to Reward, we are going nowhere. This deal with Nick is the first step in the longer term succession planning for Reward and between the three of us and the wider management team we will continue to drive the business forward in the alternative finance space.”

Smith said: “Reward’s future is extremely promising. We have significant capital available to lend, and our ability to structure and complete deals within days, using multiple assets and taking a practical and pragmatic approach to lending, enables us to build bespoke funding solutions for our clients – something that is unique in the SME lending space.”