Investec, the UK private bank, has launched a specialist lending service for sports, music and entertainment celebrities. The loans will be borrowed against a range of assets belonging to the stars. Typically, loans are in excess of £2m and structured around future rights to cash flows.
Over the past five years, Investec has provided loans worth around £250m to a number of sporting corporations, including Premiership football and rugby clubs. Off the back of this Investec started the specialist lending facility to individual stars, and has already lent £30m.
The bank said the recent upsurge in demand for specialist lending facilities is partly because an increasing number of sports and entertainment stars are looking at ways to broaden their portfolios, but do not have readily available assets to use.
Jason Traub, sports and entertainment adviser at Investec said: "Leading sportsmen and entertainers are increasingly regarded as global brands, but despite reliable receivables are often unable to raise funds to invest in business activities or broaden their investment portfolios. In addition to top sports clubs looking to raise additional finance, we've lent to a number of well-known sports individuals and entertainers on an ad hoc basis. This new service will focus on these stars. We have an excellent understanding of the covenants required for this type of lending and believe that this will be a major growth area for us over the next 12 months and beyond."