Recognition, before conversation
Buying something changes what kind of finance question this is.
An acquisition is not a working-capital gap with a bigger number attached. What you're buying, how it's structured, and what you already hold as security all change the answer at the same time, which is exactly why this page won't hand you a single facility to compare against three others.
Recognition
Buying a business, a client book, or a competitor's assets
This covers buying a specific business, a book of clients or a competitor's assets outright, and the more targeted case of a management buyout or buy-in of a business you already know from the inside. Each is a genuine transaction with its own structure, timeline and security position, not a variant of ordinary working capital.
Why it doesn't fit a facility page
The structure decides the answer, before the amount does
What's actually being bought (trading assets, shares, a client list, a competitor's book) changes what a lender will secure against and how the deal is typically priced. What you already hold (existing facilities, security a current lender has over the business) changes how much room there is to add new borrowing without renegotiating the old. And how the deal itself is structured (an asset purchase against an existing facility's headroom, or a standalone transaction with its own security package) points at genuinely different routes.
Answering these on a generic page would mean guessing at facts that decide the outcome. That's the opposite of what this site is for, which is exactly why this page stops at recognition rather than pretending to a comparison it can't responsibly make.
What's worth having ready
Before the conversation
What actually speeds this up
- What you're buying. Trading assets, shares, a client book or specific assets, in outline. Not a full information memorandum yet.
- What you already hold. Existing facilities and whether a current lender already has security over the business. If that security is itself the constraint, see borrowing with an existing debenture.
- Roughly what it costs and how it's structured. An indicative price and whether the deal is being proposed as an asset purchase, a share purchase, or a buyout.
- Timeline. Whether there's a deadline driving this (an exclusivity period, a vendor's own timetable) or genuinely no fixed date yet.
None of this needs to be final. Enough to start the right conversation, not a completed deal pack.
What we do
A direct conversation about the deal
Established Finance is an introducer, not a lender. For a transaction like this, the value is in getting the structure in front of the right provider early, before assumptions get baked into a timeline that doesn't fit the finance. Tell us what you're buying and we'll review it and point you to the right route, free and confidential, with no obligation at any stage.
Talk it through
Need another perspective?
You may already know which facility you think fits. The more valuable question is whether it's actually the right structure for what's happening in the business. We'll review the situation before suggesting possible routes. It costs nothing to have that conversation.
Thank you. It's with our team now.
A person reads every enquiry and we'll come back to you with what we think the right next step is. No obligation at any point.
What happens next
- A person on our team reads it. No need to know which facility you want first.
- If we can help, we may introduce you to a provider and tell you who they are.
- No charge and no obligation at any point. You decide whether to go further.
Adam Parker
Founder of Muswell Rose Consulting Ltd, which trades as Established Finance · former Managing Director of Penny, an invoice finance business, working in mortgages, commercial finance and fintech lending since 2010 (career history).
Last reviewed:
Practical questions
Before you get in touch
How long does it take?
It varies by facility, so there isn't one number that fits every case. Some drawdowns against an existing facility complete within a day or two; arranging something new from scratch usually takes longer. We'll give you a realistic timeline once we understand your situation.
What information do I need?
To start, just a description of what’s actually happening in the business. If it progresses, the provider will ask for the usual things: recent accounts, a sense of turnover and trading history, and details of the specific need.