United Trust Bank (UTB) has completed a £625,000 refinance facility to support the acquisition of a coach operator in a deal described as unusually complex by those involved.

The transaction was introduced to UTB Asset Finance by Mike Austin, director at Crystal Business Finance, who was acting on behalf of a growing coach operator looking to expand through acquisition.

To raise the capital required, the buyer proposed refinancing a number of coaches from its own fleet, as well as several vehicles owned by the company it was acquiring.

This requirement added significant complexity to the structure of the deal. It was underwritten by Rob Irving, UTB’s roving asset finance underwriter for the North of England, and made subject to satisfactory valuation and proof of title on seven vehicles in total.

CHALLENGES

Obtaining title documentation proved to be one of the more challenging aspects of the deal. Some of the coaches involved lacked full supporting documents, including missing invoices.

However, collaboration between the teams at Crystal Business Finance and UTB ultimately resolved these issues to the lender’s satisfaction.

Once agreement was reached, UTB released the funds directly to the client’s solicitor handling the purchase. The solicitor provided UTB with a letter of undertaking confirming that the funds were being held to the bank’s order.

Upon completion of the acquisition and formal transfer of the vehicles, the funds were passed to the vendor and UTB received confirmation of the transaction.

Austin said: “This wasn’t a straightforward case, but I talked to Paul Barter at UTB and he quickly confirmed that they would be able to do it.

“Once our client was ready to go ahead, Rob Irving completed the underwriting and UTB’s operations team completed all the admin, processing and arrangements with the solicitors to enable my client’s acquisition to proceed.”

Paul Barter (pictured), business development manager at United Trust Bank, added: “We pride ourselves on being able to take on more complex deals which benefit from having direct communication with our underwriters from the start.

“Thanks very much to Mike for giving us the opportunity to show what UTB are capable of and for the excellent support we received from him and the Crystal team in getting this deal over the line.”