British Business Bank provides £10m capital facility to Oxbury

The British Business Bank (BBB) has agreed a £10m Tier 2 capital facility with specialist agricultural bank Oxbury. This builds on a £25m facility provided in 2022, bringing the total funding to £35m.

Oxbury’s lending focuses on enabling smaller businesses within the food and farming sector to invest in land, infrastructure, automation, storage and working capital. Since the first Tier 2 facility in 2022,Oxbury has grown significantly and has built a large and diversified savings base that supports its expanding lending portfolio.

Oxbury reported that it is now responsible for one in five new farm loans in the UK on a rolling 12-month basis and is approaching a 10% share of new agricultural lending nationally.

The British Business Bank’s Tier 2 capital note investments aim to be a catalyst for recipient banks as they grow, increasing the supply and availability of finance to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK.

The firm’s regulatory capital structure combines a shareholder base with deep roots in the food and farming sector and long-term institutional funding, including Tier 2 facilities provided by the British Business Bank.

The latest agreement comes five years after the BBB commenced lending to the UK food and farming sector.

“We are delighted to increase our Tier 2 funding with Oxbury Bank and strengthen our relationship with them as a delivery partner. We have completed several transactions with Oxbury across our Banking business since 2022, which reflects the diversity of finance types we want to provide to the farming economy,” said Richard Bowen, managing director, direct financial institution solutions, British Business Bank.

“We hope this transaction enables Oxbury to support as many food and farming businesses as possible, and we look forward to seeing the growth this facility will bring to the farmers who access it.”