We have advised Freshstream Investment Partners LLP (Freshstream) on raising finance to support their investment in Portman Finance Group (Portman), a leading finance distribution platform helping SME businesses access a wide range of commercial funding solutions.
Founded in 2007 by CEO Alex Read and headquartered in Northampton, Portman has built a scaled platform serving businesses across the UK. The business connects SMEs with a broad range of funding solutions through a panel of more than 45 lending partners alongside its own lending activities. Over recent years, Portman has delivered strong growth while expanding its product offering beyond asset finance into a broader range of SME funding solutions. The business was recently recognised by the Sunday Times and the Financial Times as one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK and Europe, respectively.
Freshstream is partnering with the management team to support the next stage of growth, drawing on its experience backing ambitious entrepreneur-led businesses and helping them scale over the long term. Freshstream is investing alongside Alex Read and the wider management team, who will continue to lead the business and retain a majority ownership stake in the group.
Portman will become the tenth investment from Freshstream's first independent fund, which closed in 2023 having raised €762m. The business joins a portfolio of entrepreneur-led growth companies across Europe, including Bella Figura Music, Detertech, G2V Group, MCR, My Jewellery, Project Better Energy and Worldstream.
More about the process
Our Debt Advisory team advised Freshstream on raising debt facilities to support its acquisition of Portman Finance. Through a competitive financing process, we helped secure a flexible funding solution from Pemberton that met the requirements of the transaction while providing a capital structure to support Portman’s future growth.
