Dublin-based student loan specialist, Future Finance, has agreed on a £100m debt facility
Future Finance, a Dublin-based student loan specialist that recently secured €40 million in funding, has agreed on a £100m (€114 million) debt facility.
The deal with alternative asset management firm, Waterfall Asset Management will it to grow its student lending business further. The deal includes an option to participate in a further £150 million (€171 million) extension.
Future Finance was established by entrepreneur Brian Norton and has already funded close to £70 million (€80 million) in loans to students.
The primarily UK-focused company provides flexible loans to undergraduates and postgraduates between £2,000 (€2,300) and £40,000 (€46,000) each academic year towards tuition costs living expenses.
To date, the company has raised over €90 million in equity and £150 million in debt. In March, the company secured €40 million in a Series C round with existing investors to fund loans and hire more people in Dublin, London and Chicago.
The head of the company’s management team, Alex King said the new forward flow agreement is an important piece of the puzzle for Future Finance’s continued growth. He further said that combined with its recent €40 million equity raise, it is well equipped to address the unmet financing needs of deserving UK university students.
The company is looking to issue between £40 million (€46 million) to £70 million (€80 million) in student loans this year and aims to ramp this up to between £100 million (€114 million) and £200 million (€228 million) next year.
Alex said the demand is there. Only the financials need to be tied down before it could proceed.
He said there is a multimillion funding gap in the UK system with students often having been forced to turn to credit cards, payday loans and other stopgap measures to fund their education prior to its arrival on the scene.
Alex added that having established good relationships with students, the company was interested in offering them other financial products. It is also eyeing other markets although its primary focus will remain Britain for the foreseeable future.
Alex said if things pan out the way it hopes they do then in a few years it will have a full suite of products for customers in multiple jurisdictions.
New York-based Waterfall has $7.2 billion (€6.1 billion) in assets under management. Earlier this month, the company emerged as one of the backers in a $120 million (€103 million) asset backed credit facility for digital lender Fundation. Last year it also committed £100 million (€114 million) in lending through the UK peer-to-peer platform Lendable.
