Renewable Energy Equipment for a Waste Recycling and Plant Hire Business.
The Brief
A Middlesbrough-based, well-established, family-run waste recycling and plant hire business, was looking to invest significantly in renewable energy. As the business processed lots of waste, they were able to convert much of the non-recyclable waste into energy using biomass. The trading premises included a number of warehouses and office buildings where the client planned to utilise the roof space with solar. The total cost of the project was £885,000 + VAT.
What we were tasked to do
To arrange an asset finance agreement whereby the repayments aligned as closely as possible to the business energy production and savings, therefore ensuring a profitable investment from day one. In addition, the customer required a business loan to cover the costs of moving their car park to accommodate the biomass plant.
Challenges to Origin
The business loan element of the project was straightforward. The equipment finance element was more challenging as the customer had chosen two suppliers, one of which was based overseas and invoicing in a foreign currency. Both suppliers required stage payments, i.e. a deposit on order, a payment on delivery and the balance on commissioning.
Outcome
Origin had to match the customer with a lender that was happy to accommodate both foreign currency and stage payments. We were also able to provide the customer with seasonal payments whereby they paid more in the spring-summer months and less in the autumn-winter months, aligning with their energy production.
