Voting Closed

To find out who won, book a table at the British Private Equity Party Awards 2025 on Tuesday, 30 September at The Brewrey, London

HSBC

HSBC’s relationship focus and commitment to supporting fast growing UK companies and the Sponsors investing in them, has ensured the LTM has been hugely successful.

• Supported 149 UK transactions (+18% / 23 YoY) and deployed £2.3bn of new lending (+39.0%) which was a record performance for HSBC. This included 42 transactions (+5%) that were new relationships to HSBC with £900m of new lending on these deals.
• Continued success of our in-house Direct Lending Fund, “AMG”, with 22 (+120% YoY) additional completions in the LTM lending a further £587.0m (+79%) of capital. Therefore, total HSBC lending in the year was £2.8bn cumulatively.
• Increased our market-leading bank position by proving debt facilities on 41% of the LTM senior-only bank transactions (supported nearly three times as many transactions as the #2 provider) and 29% of the whole UK Leveraged Finance market, according to the Q1-25 Houlihan Lokey / DC market trackers.
• HSBC continue to innovate and evolve the core lending offering; HSBC UK has added its own Private Credit financing proposition that enables holds of up to £175.0m under a ‘one bank solution’ between HBUK and AMG, to offer increased flexibility across Sponsor backed financings. To date, we have already completed 4 transactions with cumulative lending of >£260.0m on these transactions.
• 70% of new hires in the HSBC Leverage Finance team were from minority backgrounds and/or female; 32% of our workforce are female and 30% are from minority backgrounds.

Investec

In 2024, Investec solidified its position as one of Europe’s leading lenders to the mid-market, completing 208 lending transactions across our fund solutions and direct lending business, supporting growth in the UK. Our model is defined by depth of relationship, responsiveness to market conditions, and a commitment to supporting growth beyond the initial transaction.

From a direct lending perspective, since 2010, Investec has remained dedicated to the lower mid-market, consistently focusing on growth and supporting borrowers throughout their lifecycle. We take pride in backing these businesses and witnessing their development over time. Our commitment to this sector is reflected in our core values: we lend responsibly (with an average leverage of 3.6x*), support growth across our investment companies (with Private Debt Fund borrowers achieving a 50% increase in revenues since our initial financing), and consistently provide capital to lower mid-market borrowers. What sets us apart is our repeat engagement with over 50% of transactions supporting existing borrowers through refinancings, bolt-ons, upsizes or liquidity events. A prime example is our support of Lawfront, a Blixt-backed legal services consolidator, where Investec has led five iterative transactions since March 2023, providing over £100m in total facilities, underwriting complex add-ons, and managing syndicated exposure while preserving a meaningful strategic stake. In a dislocated market, we leaned into certainty of execution, underwriting full facilities and syndicating them swiftly, while maintaining rigorous credit discipline.

We are not deployment-led. We are relationship-led. Our strategy is simple: back ambitious businesses through all market cycles — and deliver solutions that evolve as they do.

*financial year end March 2025

OakNorth

OakNorth has led the way in private equity-backed lending this year, completing dozens of transformational transactions across sectors - offering fast, flexible capital to fuel complex sponsor strategies ranging from carve-outs and roll-ups to greenfield development and fund finance.

It provided £30m in a £190m club loan to support Loungers’ acquisition by Fortress and Lion Capital. It structured £25m for My Pension Expert (Palatine) and £5m for SCIRIS (Waterland). In digital, it supported ECI’s majority acquisition of Croud with a £77.6m facility. It also backed Kester Capital’s acquisition of The Boundary, and DSW Capital’s earnings-enhancing acquisition of DR Solicitors.

In real estate and infrastructure, OakNorth funded a £52m acquisition of Danforth Care by Warwick Capital, £50m in new funding to Paloma Capital, £16.1m to a JV PBSA project, and £11m to Longacre Group for the acquisition of security-tech firm Veracity UK. It also supported STAR Capital’s acquisition of Subsea Technology & Rentals.

In clean energy, OakNorth participated in a £150m club loan to D2Zero (SCFbacked). Most recently, it completed a £45.7m umbrella facility to Veld and Maya Capital for the buy, build, and stabilisation of a 222-bed Motel One hotel in central London - highlighting OakNorth’s bespoke structuring capabilities.

OakNorth consistently delivers intelligent credit with commercial agility - earning repeat mandates and proving itself a long-term partner for the UK’s leading PE sponsors.

Voting Closed

To find out who won, book a table at the British Private Equity Party Awards 2025 on Tuesday, 30 September at The Brewrey, London