HayFin instructs Macfarlanes on £375m funding package

The company, which lends to small and medium-sized businesses, raised a reported £375m of funding from three investors: Australia’s sovereign wealth fund, Apax Partners founder Sir Ronald Cohen and Lord Rothschild.

The Macfarlanes team provided advice on specialist fundraising, corporate matters and tax structuring.

The team was led by funds partner Stephen Sims and tax partner Damien Crossley, while senior associate Richard Phillips advised on corporate aspects.

Allen & Overy senior associate Bertrand Geradin provided advice on the Luxembourg aspects of the deal and Walkers private equity co-head Rolf Lindsay provided counsel in the Cayman Islands.

Australia’s Future Fund was advised by a Freehills team led by corporate partner Ben Davey. Sir Ronald Cohen and Lord Rothschild were advised by their in-house teams.

Macfarlanes secured the instruction after advising HayFin’s management when it was established in 2009 with the backing of key sponsor TowerBrook.

Phillips later spent a period on secondment at the company to help establish its in-house legal function.

The capital injection has been cited as evidence that, with banks remaining ­reluctant to lend to small and medium-sized businesses, corporate lenders in the UK, such as Ares Capital, HayFin and Oaktree Capital, are stepping in.

“From our point of view this is an interesting space to be in,” said Sims. “It looks as though traditional bank lending isn’t going to be the way forward and there’s clearly a market for debt funds.”