Allica Bank has acquired bridging lender Tuscan Capital, representing Allica’s first foray into the bridging finance market.
The Tuscan team, based across the UK, will integrate fully into the Allica team, with access to Allica’s funding base and distribution network.
Allica, which has been steadily expanding its commercial finance offering for its established business customers, will leverage Tuscan’s existing bridging expertise and broker network.
The acquisition will further its commercial finance product offering to include bridging and refurbishment finance, with a focus on semi-commercial and full commercial bridging, alongside Tuscan’s offering in residential bridging.
In addition, Allica hired Justin Trowse as head of bridging to spearhead its bridging distribution strategy.
Trowse was previously director of structured property finance at LendInvest, where he was responsible for origination of high value, complex property transactions across bridging and development finance.
Colin Sanders, founder of Tuscan Capital, said: “Ed and I set up Tuscan with a vision to transform what we saw as a broken bridging market, with a specific focus on bringing back speed and decisiveness to the decision-making process.
“Allica’s no-nonsense approach to banking shows they share this vision with us.
“This is a really positive development for the Tuscan team, our intermediary partners, and the wider [small and medium enterprise (SME)] community, and we look forward to the proposition enhancements that will undoubtedly follow today’s news.
“By becoming part of this award-winning bank, we will be able to accelerate the fantastic work our team has already done, and make an even greater difference to the market.”
Nick Baker, Allica Bank’s chief commercial officer, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Tuscan Capital into the Allica family.
“Tuscan’s commitment to service, and in particular their focus on speed and transparency for their broker partners and customers, meant the synergies with Allica’s values were clear.
“Commercial bridging is an important but underserved part of the lending market. That’s why we believe bringing together Tuscan’s expertise and existing relationships with Allica’s resources and network is a winning combination for the market.
“We look forward to sharing more about how we’ll be developing our bridging proposition in the coming weeks.”
