Startline secures £475m credit facility from US banking giant J P Morgan

Startline Motor Finance has secured a five-year, £475 million credit facility from investment bank J P Morgan, marking the sixth renewal of their partnership.

Founded in 2013, Startline now manages over £625 million in assets and serves 80,000 customers, providing near-prime solutions to around half of the UK’s top 50 franchise dealers and 70% of the top 50 independent car retailers by turnover, accounting for 2% of the motor finance market by volume.

CEO Paul Burgess described the deal as a significant milestone, noting that a five-year facility of this scale is unusual in the motor finance sector. He noted that the securing of the credit facility follows two oversubscribed securitisations listed on the London Stock Exchange, totaling £747m.

He said this represented a vote of confidence for the company and its future, adding that its diversified funding strategy, combining the new credit facility, securitisation, and potential mezzanine funding, will help Startline achieve continued growth and efficient capital use.

In the medium-term, Startline plans to increase its market share to 3% of the motor finance market by volume, a target the company believes is very much achievable.

“The lending philosophy that we have pioneered in the motor finance sector over the last decade has increasingly come into its own, thanks both to its suitability for key customer segments and greater understanding of our proposition from introducers such as dealers. There is very much potential to continue to expand within this area of the market,” said Burgess.

Recent investment projects to date include a business portal for dealers, biometric e-Sign capabilities to streamline credit agreement processing, and AI-driven robotic process automations.

In September, Startline also began offering hire purchase and personal contract purchase plans for electric vehicles, with rates and conditions identical to those for petrol and diesel models.

“We’ve been monitoring the used electric car market closely over the last couple of years and it’s been something of a roller coaster ride with an emphasis on rapid downhills but we believe the market is now sufficiently stable to get involved. While it is still early days, used electric car sales are set to rise exponentially over the next few years and our move into this sector has been welcomed by dealers and their customers,” said Burgess.