Arbuthnot Commercial ABL provides £7.25m growth funding facility for Bird Stainless
Arbuthnot Commercial ABL has provided a revolving receivables finance and inventory line, together with a CBILS loan to support the re-finance of the working capital facilities of AD Bird Stainless Ltd (“Bird Stainless”) and AKM Steels Ltd (“AKM”).
The combined £7.25m funding solution will generate substantial additional headroom for further growth.
Bird Stainless is a specialist ‘long products’ stainless-steel stockholder specialising in the supply of anti-corrosive steel bars for the marine, oil & gas, and engineering sectors while AKM concentrates on ‘tool’ steels used in a wide variety of industries from engineering to food. Founded in 1987 and 1985 respectively, the family-owned group operates from its headquarters in Sheffield, where it has its own processing facilities on-site to provide its customers with faster access to cutting, grinding and finishing.
Nigel Bird, managing director at Bird Stainless, said: “Our previous funder was looking to exit the market, so we found ourselves in the position where we knew we would have to refinance the business quickly. We wanted to secure a greater level of funding for growth and felt that Arbuthnot Commercial ABL was the ‘best-fit option’ put to us by our financial intermediary. Arbuthnot succeeded in structuring a facility that has almost doubled our availability of funding while meeting the tight timeframes demanded by the situation. The additional working capital will give us the room to expand both the stainless, and the tool steel sides of the business. We felt that their team was good to deal with and that they were very thorough. We would be very happy to recommend them to others.”
Andrew Rutherford, commercial director at Arbuthnot Commercial ABL, said: “Time was of the essence in respect of this transaction, and we were delighted to provide Bird Stainless with a significantly increased working capital facility against a strict deadline. This will give this long-standing and profitable business the capacity to expand as the post-pandemic market returns. We have created a robust funding structure specifically to meet the growth ambitions of the business and look forward to providing the group with the strength and depth of support that will enable them to emerge even stronger in the months and years to come.”