We understand the specific financing mechanics of ten industries — the risk profiles lenders apply, the structures that work, and the timing that matters. Select a sector to explore our approach.
Real estate financing is not a single product — it is an ecosystem. Development finance, investment finance, bridge lending, mezzanine debt, and equity are all deployed across the same asset class, but they serve different moments in the same asset's lifecycle. Understanding which tool fits which moment is the difference between a transaction that completes and one that stalls.
Lenders in the real estate sector apply very different risk frameworks depending on whether the asset is income-generating, under construction, or in a pre-planning position. A completed commercial property with long-dated institutional leases will attract very different capital — at very different rates — to a residential development scheme at ground level. We know where each category of lender sits and how they price risk within it.
For property investors and developers, our access to specialist development finance lenders, challenger banks with real estate appetite, and private credit funds with higher risk tolerance means we can structure capital for assets that the clearing banks will not touch — and often at better terms than clients have previously achieved through conventional channels.
Real estate lenders price three things above all else: the quality of the asset, the clarity of the exit, and the experience of the borrower. We present all three in a format that generates appetite.
Development finance, investment loans, bridge facilities, mezzanine debt, stretched senior, sale-and-leaseback.
Infrastructure assets share two defining characteristics: they take a long time to build and a long time to pay back. That temporal mismatch creates a specific capital requirement — long-tenor debt at rates that reflect the contracted, often government-backed, revenue streams that infrastructure projects typically carry. Finding lenders with both the duration appetite and the technical expertise to assess these assets is not straightforward.
The energy transition has created a new generation of infrastructure lending — solar, wind, battery storage, and hydrogen assets attracting specialist capital from a combination of green bond issuers, infrastructure debt funds, and export credit agencies. We understand the specific documentation requirements of these assets, including grid connection agreements, power purchase agreements, and planning consents, and we present them to lenders in a form that accelerates credit approval.
For civil and social infrastructure — transport, education, healthcare facilities — we work within the PFI/PFII framework where applicable and alongside private sponsors where public procurement is not involved. The lender pool is narrower but the terms, once achieved, are among the most competitive available for any asset class.
Infrastructure lenders focus on contracted revenue and the creditworthiness of the offtaker above all. The asset is secondary. Structuring the revenue certainty is the primary task.
Long-tenor project finance, green bonds, export credit, infrastructure debt funds, mezzanine co-investment.
Healthcare businesses present a paradox for conventional lenders: they operate in a sector with robust long-term demand and relatively predictable cashflows, yet they are often difficult to finance because lenders struggle to assess regulatory risk, reimbursement complexity, and the specific asset values involved — whether beds, equipment, or intellectual property.
Private hospitals, care home operators, dental group roll-ups, and pharmaceutical businesses each require lenders with specific sector knowledge. A lender who does not understand CQC registration, bed occupancy economics, or NHS tariff structures will always price conservatively. A lender who does will price the risk correctly — which almost always means better terms for the borrower.
In life sciences and biotech, the capital structure problem is different again: early-stage companies with significant IP value but no revenue require specialist lenders willing to underwrite IP risk, often alongside equity capital. We work across this capital structure — identifying debt providers willing to sit alongside venture equity and structure facilities that do not dilute founders unnecessarily.
Healthcare lenders must understand regulatory frameworks, not just financial statements. Sector-specialist lenders consistently outperform generalists on pricing and structure.
Acquisition finance, care home development loans, IP-backed facilities, equipment finance, growth capital.
Technology businesses challenge traditional credit models at every level. Their assets are often intangible. Their revenue growth curves are steep but their early-stage cashflows may be negative. Their market positions can shift rapidly. For a generalist credit officer, these characteristics generate hesitation. For a specialist who understands recurring revenue metrics, customer acquisition economics, and the value of a defensible technology position, they generate opportunity.
Rothbury Finance connects technology businesses with lenders who evaluate SaaS companies on ARR, churn, and net revenue retention; who understand the R&D tax credit cycle; who can structure venture debt facilities that bridge the gap between equity rounds without unnecessary dilution. This is a growing and increasingly sophisticated segment of the lending market, and we know where the most capable providers sit within it.
For later-stage technology companies with established revenue and approaching profitability, we also structure more conventional corporate debt — working capital revolvers, acquisition finance, and management buyout funding — alongside the private equity and growth capital community.
Technology lenders must evaluate intangible assets and growth metrics, not just balance sheets. ARR, NRR, and market position drive pricing as much as EBITDA.
Venture debt, revenue-based finance, R&D credit facilities, ARR-backed revolvers, MBO finance.
International trade financing is uniquely complex because the risk is distributed across multiple parties, multiple jurisdictions, and multiple timelines simultaneously. The seller requires payment assurance before shipping. The buyer requires delivery before payment. The lender sitting between them must assess the creditworthiness of both counterparties, the political and currency risk of both jurisdictions, and the specific characteristics of the goods in transit.
Rothbury Finance has structured trade finance arrangements for importers and exporters operating across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. Our lender network includes specialist trade finance banks, export credit agencies, and commodity trade finance providers with the specific jurisdiction knowledge these transactions require.
For businesses with consistent import or export volumes, we replace the inefficiency of transaction-by-transaction financing with revolving facilities that provide permanent capital backstop — reducing the administrative burden on treasury teams and improving the predictability of financing costs throughout the trading year.
Trade lenders assess both sides of the transaction. The quality of the foreign counterparty and the political risk of the jurisdiction are as important as the domestic borrower's credit.
Letters of credit, documentary collections, supplier finance, revolving trade facilities, export credit.
Hospitality assets are inherently cyclical and operationally complex — and conventional lenders have long memories. The volatility demonstrated during the pandemic remains in lender pricing models and covenant structures across much of the market. For well-managed hospitality businesses with proven operational resilience and credible forward trading, this creates an opportunity: specialist lenders prepared to look through the cycle are pricing risk more attractively than generalists.
Hotels, serviced apartment operators, leisure attractions, and restaurant groups all require lenders who understand RevPAR dynamics, EBITDAR as a performance metric, and the specific security characteristics of licensed premises and branded hospitality assets. We identify lenders with genuine sector appetite — not those adding hospitality exposure reluctantly — and structure facilities that reflect the operating reality of the business.
For hotel development and refurbishment, we arrange development finance alongside longer-term investment debt — managing the transition between construction and stabilised trading, and ensuring the refinancing into permanent capital is structured before the development loan is ever drawn.
Hospitality lenders must look through cyclical volatility and assess normalised trading performance. Operators with demonstrable resilience are underserved by the current market.
Hotel investment loans, development finance, EBITDAR-based facilities, refurbishment capital, operational revolvers.
Manufacturing businesses operate with a set of capital requirements that are both more tangible and more complex than most sectors. Fixed assets — plant, machinery, premises — provide security. Working capital — raw materials, work-in-progress, finished goods — creates constant cashflow tension. The combination of high fixed costs and variable revenue creates leverage risk that generalist lenders consistently overprice.
Rothbury Finance structures manufacturing finance across the full range of facilities: asset finance for capital equipment; revolving credit for working capital; invoice finance against the receivables book; and term debt for acquisitions and strategic capital expenditure. Understanding how these facilities interact — and how to structure them so they do not conflict — is the core competency that we bring to manufacturing clients.
For manufacturers expanding their capital equipment base or investing in automation, we also work alongside government-backed and development finance institutions across multiple jurisdictions — identifying subsidised or concessional capital where it is available and appropriate to the client's geography and sector.
Manufacturing lenders must understand the interaction between fixed asset, working capital, and trade cycles. The businesses that are best financed are those with all three covered under a coherent structure.
Asset finance, invoice discounting, revolving credit, term debt, export finance, government-backed lending.
Financial services firms — fund managers, wealth managers, insurance companies, fintechs — have sophisticated capital requirements precisely because their principals understand capital markets. They are often demanding clients, with clear views on pricing, structure, and counterparty quality. They are also, frequently, underserved by mainstream lenders who lack the specific knowledge to assess their business models accurately.
For fund managers, we structure facilities against management fee income, committed fund economics, and co-investment obligations. For wealth management firms growing through acquisition, we arrange acquisition finance against recurring revenue — a metric that the best private credit lenders now treat as seriously as any tangible asset. For insurers and brokers, we structure working capital facilities that reflect the specific timing characteristics of premium income and claims exposure.
Fintechs occupy a particularly interesting position: they often have technology assets, regulatory licences, and growing revenue bases that specialist lenders will now underwrite — at terms that were unavailable to earlier-stage financial services businesses a decade ago. We know which lenders have built genuine fintech credit teams and which are simply extending general corporate debt to a different industry label.
Financial services lenders must assess intangible assets — AUM, recurring fees, regulatory capital — rather than traditional balance sheet metrics. Sector expertise is non-negotiable.
Management fee facilities, AUM-backed lending, acquisition finance, regulatory capital support, fintech debt.
Public sector and institutional financing occupies a different world from private credit. The risk profile is typically lower — government entities benefit from the implicit or explicit backing of the public purse — but the procurement process is significantly more complex, the documentation requirements more demanding, and the timeline from mandate to drawdown substantially longer.
For private sector businesses providing services to public sector clients, we structure facilities that reflect the specific dynamics of government contracting — the mobilisation capital required before a contract begins generating revenue, the payment timing mismatches inherent in public sector procurement, and the bond and guarantee requirements that many public sector contracts demand of their suppliers.
For development projects involving public sector land, planning, or procurement — joint ventures between public bodies and private developers, for example — we structure capital that satisfies both the lender's requirements and the governance obligations of the public sector partner. This requires a level of process discipline that we are well positioned to provide.
Public sector lenders must navigate governance requirements that private credit markets do not face. Process discipline and documentation quality determine whether a facility completes.
Mobilisation finance, contract-backed facilities, performance bonds, public-private joint venture debt.
Agricultural lending has a fundamental structural characteristic that distinguishes it from almost every other sector: the cashflow cycle is determined by biology, not by management decision. Crops grow on their own timeline. Livestock mature at their own pace. Commodity prices move independently of production costs. Lenders who do not understand these rhythms will always impose covenant structures that clash with operational reality.
Rothbury Finance arranges financing for farming businesses, agri-processors, commodity traders, and food producers — working with lenders who understand the seasonal capital demands of agricultural operations and who structure repayment profiles that align with harvest cycles and commodity sale windows rather than arbitrary quarterly dates.
For larger agri-businesses and commodity traders operating across international markets, we arrange trade finance alongside working capital — ensuring that the capital structure reflects both the domestic production cycle and the international trading relationships on which many agricultural businesses increasingly depend. Price risk, currency risk, and counterparty risk in commodity markets are assessed carefully before any facility is structured.
Agricultural lenders must align repayment cycles to harvest and sale windows. Covenants tested at the wrong point in the agricultural calendar can create artificial default risk.
Seasonal revolvers, commodity trade finance, land acquisition loans, agri-processing equipment finance.