Many of us thought that 2021 would see quite a bit of consolidation in the world of factoring but much of what has happened so far and is rumoured to be happening shortly is far more than most had thought with the banks seemingly keen to get rid of their factoring portfolios entirely.
Late 2019 saw my least favourite factoring company (Pulse Factoring) acquired by Petra Group Holdings Limited which was a company registered in the Cayman Islands so little if anything was known about it.
January saw Petra Group expand it’s UK portfolio of factoring companies by acquiring Calverton Finance which as I have previously mentioned was a company that I liked dealing with due to it’s excellent client relations and ethical management and this month it was announced that Cubitt Trade Holdings LLC which seems to be another company whose ownership is obscured but is also part of the Petra Group has acquired a majority stake in another factoring company that I won’t deal with, namely, Regency Factors
In terms of the overall factoring market that is relatively small beer but the more worrying announcements and rumours concern the sale by Barclays of it’s factoring portfolio to the little known 4Syte Group coupled with the rumour that RBIF is divesting itself of it’s factoring clients with it rumoured to be giving them all six months notice to find them another home.
If that wasn’t enough rumours have now surfaced that the biggest factoring company Lloyds Bank Commercial Finance has also had enough and is looking to sell itself or at least it’s factoring portfolio. It will be interesting to see where that one ends up as I can only think of one factoring company big enough to swallow it up without causing indigestion.
There is more but unfortunately for every story that I am told about there are at least six more that I am asked not to put on my blog which is a shame but perhaps in time I can reveal more