New Belfast non bank commercial business lender has already made loans totalling £28m

Belfast Commercial Funding (BCF) is operational in Ireland providing non-banking funding for businesses.

The major new commercial finance provider has already made loans totalling £28m to businesses across Ireland, north and south and is the first non-bank lender to be founded in Belfast.

BCF entered the market in response to a clear demand for new sources of funding for businesses unable to access finance from traditional sources. The firm was established by Gareth Graham, founder and CE of Oakland Holdings, which in 2021 sold Merchant Square in Belfast in the largest private sector commercial sale to date in NI. The Merchant Square development was completed in 2020 and is let entirely to PwC in what is now the consultancy giant’s largest UK office outside London.

Gareth explained: “We planned to develop Merchant Square as the highest quality commercial office in NI, but when we sought funding support from the traditional sources we either could not get a timely response or we received a flat ‘no’. However, due to the scale of the project we were able to secure funding from London and New York. We had experienced the challenges of funding smaller projects following the global financial crisis and this led us to commence funding operations on a small-scale in 2016. The sale of Merchant Square allowed us to commit substantial capital and establish BCF as a significant source of funding.”

BCF has now recruited a strong professional team to head up the enlarged organisation at its city centre headquarters.

Adam Dickson, head of Underwriting, continued: “We are open for business and providing development, bridge, agriculture and SME finance to borrowers in the GB and Ireland, north and south. We have significant capital to deploy and within our team have the experience, expertise and dynamism required to quickly assess proposals and come to a decision. We will typically have terms issued within 48 hours and have loans drawn as quickly as two weeks after an enquiry. Having come from a development background we know the importance of a lender’s commitment to a business, whether that be development or a stable source of capital for SMEs. We have advanced loans in both Euros and Sterling ranging from €/£200,000 to €/£3m, to a range of businesses who are already making a positive impact on the wider economy.

“Coming out of the pandemic and with society returning to a degree of normality, it is an exciting time to be involved in supporting new and established businesses. We want to see the economy growing across Ireland north and south I would encourage any business or advisor looking for new funding avenues to get in touch.”

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