Manx Financial acquires 10pc of Rivers Finance Group

The AIM-traded firm said the shares were allotted to Bradburn at no cost, and credited as fully paid up.

It explained that Rivers Finance, established in 2002, operates a number of subsidiaries from its base in Harrow, London.

The subsidiaries offer leasing, hire purchase and business loans, including supplier finance, for a range of assets and commercial equipment to UK small-to-medium enterprises.

Rivers Finance was listed in the Financial Times ‘Europe's 1000 Fastest Growing Companies’ list over the last four years.

“As part of the transaction, Bradburn has been granted two warrants to acquire further shares,” Manx said in its statement.

The first warrant was for 5% of the share capital, and the second warrant was for a further 5% share capital.

Manx said the second warrant was dependent on contracting for an integrated wholesale funding agreement with the group's banking subsidiary, Conister Bank.

Currently, the subsidiaries of Rivers Finance benefit from banking facilities totalling £6.25m from Conister Bank.

“This increase in shareholding continues the group's strategy of developing the bank's own network of specialist lenders to resilient market sectors in the UK,” the Manx board added.

At 0931 BST, shares in Manx Financial Group were down 2.5% at 7.8p.