Luminii provides CDD to Foresight on their £15m investment into Reto Finance

19 Oct 2021 /

Luminii are delighted to have provided commercial due diligence (CDD) support to Foresight Group (“Foresight”) on their investment into Reto Finance.

Reto Finance was launched in 2019 following a buy-out from Shawbrook International by Quilam Capital and has since served hundreds of consumer and SME borrowers across the Channel Islands. Reto Finance is led by its CEO Adam Dawson who spent seven years building and managing a specialist lending business for an established bank, after working for ten years as a management consultant. Under Quilam Capital and Adam’s leadership, Reto Finance is increasingly becoming the “go to” specialist lender on the Channel Islands offering a wider breadth of products to SMEs and consumers than many of its rivals. The new investment will support the launch of a real estate development finance product and will allow the Company to offer increased flexibility on its existing real estate bridging product.

The property market in the Channel Islands has been well documented in recent months. In June of this year, Jersey's parliament voted against declaring a housing crisis on the island despite clear evidence of demand for real estate far-outweighing supply. Reports indicate there are six or seven parties on average seeking any one rental property, highlighting the need for a substantial increase in the supply of new housing. Reto, Spanish for “challenge”, was keen to develop a new product to support local property developers and consequently help to address the housing shortage. Traditionally more focused upon bridging, Reto will add a flexible development product to their offering.

Foresight Group, fast becoming known as an alternative finance provider to lending businesses, structured a senior debt facility tailored to suit the flexibility required by the Company’s new product.  Investment into lenders such as Reto Finance aligns with Foresight’s regional approach to investing, offering support to local economies and businesses that are unable to access traditional forms of financing. With this investment, Foresight has now committed over £165 million of capital to the alternative lending sector.

"Luminii are delighted to have supported Foresight on this transaction. This is yet another deal that helps to further strengthen our credentials in the financial services and property sectors. We wish Foresight and Reto Finance's management team continued success for the future." - Lushani Kodituwakku, Managing Director, Luminii Consulting

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  • The Luminii team did an excellent job of covering the project objectives set & provided us with invaluable research & information that helped us with our business direction & decisions. They understood our business needs and were thorough, diligent, and offered sound advice. We have since progressed well with market entry & have moved forward with one of their contacts who is now running our office in the target market in Spain. We would certainly recommend them to other businesses looking for support, thank you Luminii!

    CEO, Global Freight Company

  • We engaged Luminii for Commercial Due Diligence support on one of our recent investments and we were highly impressed with their high-quality report, professionalism, and flexibility. Luminii were able to address our key questions and due diligence requirements against a tight deadline. They conducted a robust primary research programme, consisting of referencing and surveys and we appreciated their timely updates throughout our engagement. Luminii's team is highly collaborative, showcased by how they worked with us as well as the Management team, other advisors, and our lenders, which we appreciated. We would not hesitate to recommend their services and look forward to working with them again in the future.

    Global Private Equity Firm with £14 Billion Fund

  • To date, Lushani and her team have supported me and Foresight on over 20 deals. They have consistently delivered high quality CDD reports, always against tight deadlines and to above expectation. They offer good value for money. Luminii are quick to understand our needs, offer sound advice and support on complex topics. Their ability to tailor the scope to our needs, focus on the core issues of each project and not being afraid to give their opinion backed by sound research and analysis is a great benefit to us. I would recommend their services without hesitation.

    Private equity investment firm with circa £4 billion of assets under management

  • We were impressed with Luminii. They delivered what they promised; the information was useful and actionable, which is what we were looking for. In addition, they were responsive and timely, and the team liked the way Luminii worked. Would we recommend them if someone called us? We definitely would, with an enthusiastic recommendation.

    Board of Directors of a global SaaS Company, UK

  • Luminii Consulting proved themselves to be a highly flexible and dedicated team who delivered a high quality CDD report in a complex tech sector. They were able to cover a wide scope across multiple geographies to a strict deadline and provided us with the required insight and strategic advice to make an informed decision. We appreciated their effort and enjoyed working with the Luminii team.

    Private equity and venture capital with £9.1bn worth of funds under management

  • Lushani and her team at Luminii delivered a high quality CDD report that exceeded our expectations. We were particularly pleased with the post deal recommendations and informed opinions contained within the report. We wouldn't hesitate to use Luminii's services again on future projects.

    Leading mid- market private equity firm

  • We engaged Luminii Consulting for a very targeted piece of commercial diligence in a very short timeframe. Luminii produced an outstanding report exactly on scope in what is a niche market segment. Moreover they managed to produce it in a very short period of time which was essential to getting the deal done.

    Leading independent investment manager with funds of over £1 billion under management

  • We enjoyed a strong working relationship with Luminii Consulting. Their work went above and beyond the scope of the CDD and offered strategic insight and advice that has since helped us with both our post-deal strategy and business development.

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  • Luminii supported the recent MBO with Foresight Group and Signature Property Finance (SPF), providing strategic insight which has enabled the management team to transform their route to market. The CDD report gives SPF valuable intelligence into the competition; market trends; customer feedback and the opportunities that are within the marketplace. The report has been useful to segment data, share customer feedback with the wider SPF team, enabling them to attack the competition and continue to deliver a quality service to brokers/direct clients. Overall, a really insightful report that gives the Management team really useful intelligence.

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