A £55 million deal has been agreed which will take Time Finance plc private after 20 years as a listed business.
The board of the Bath-based alternative finance company, which was founded in 2000 and listed in London in 2006, has agreed a takeover by private lender Ultimate Finance.
Bentley Park (UK) Limited, the parent company of Ultimate Finance, has seen its offer of 59.1 pence in cash accepted. It values the entire issued share capital of Time Finance at £55.13m.
The offer represents a premium of approximately 12.6% to the closing price of 52.50p on Friday.
Bentley Park said it has secured backing for the deal from shareholders representing 47% of Time Finance’s share capital.
Ultimate Finance is a specialist asset-based lender while Time Finance is a non-bank alternative finance company providing UK businesses with flexible funding facilities in the shape of asset finance, invoice finance, business loans and asset-based lending.
Time Finance generated £37.1m of revenues and profit before tax of £7.9m in the year ended 31st May 2025.
As at 30th June 2026, Time Finance had an unaudited net loan book of approximately £218m, comprising approximately £141m relating to the asset finance division and approximately £77m in relation to the invoice finance division.
Part of the Tavistock Group, an international private investment firm, the Ultimate Finance Group has offices in London, Bristol, Lutterworth, Leeds and Edinburgh. It currently supports over 4,000 businesses with flexible funding solutions to help realise potential through unlocking working capital, funding the purchase of assets and supporting property developers and investors with short-term funding.
Bentley Park says it believes that the combined Ultimate Finance and Time Finance business would be well-positioned as a significant independent alternative lender with a combined net loan book size of nearly £650m.
If approved by Time Finance shareholders, the deal is expected to complete in the fourth quarter of 2026.
Ed Rimmer (pictured), CEO of Time Finance, said: “Over the course of our discussions with the Ultimate Finance team, it became clear very early on that they genuinely respect what the Time Finance teams have built and that we share a lot of mutual ambitions for the continued growth of the business going forward.
“The Time Finance board believes there is a strong strategic fit between the two businesses, the combination of which will create a broader platform, introduce the benefits of additional scale and provide additional resources that can support future growth, without losing the focus on customers and introducers that have made our business great in the first place.”
Josh Levy, CEO of Bentley Park and Ultimate Finance, said: “This acquisition is an exciting opportunity to bring together two strong specialist lenders with complementary capabilities, shared values and a common focus on supporting UK SMEs.
“We believe Time Finance is a strong strategic fit for Ultimate Finance, combining a relationship-led approach, talented people and deep expertise, while creating opportunities to build on innovation and development using a genuine ‘best of both’ approach.”
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