Business Finance
Businesses rarely fail for lack of profit. They fail for lack of cash on a Tuesday. We find facilities that match the shape of your working capital, rather than the shape of a lender's product sheet.
01 · Scope
What this covers, and what it does not.
This service covers trade finance, business loans, invoice discounting, factoring, asset finance and private equity participation, sourced from funds, banks and alternative lenders. It covers sizing the requirement, matching the instrument to the cause, pricing the whole facility honestly, and negotiating the terms that actually bite.
It does not cover bookkeeping, statutory accounts or audit — though we will work directly with whoever does. Where a business owner's personal position is entangled with the company's, which is usually, it connects to Wealth Planning and Insurance.
02 · What we examine
The schedule we work through with you.
Before any recommendation is made, these are the items we go through together. Nothing here is unusual; what is unusual is seeing all of it in one place.
- The cash gap
- The number of days between paying a supplier and being paid by a customer. This single figure decides which product is appropriate, and it is the number most owners have never calculated.
- Turnover & margin
- The trend across three years, and whether the margin survives the cost of the facility. Borrowing to fund an unprofitable line makes the problem arrive later and larger.
- Debtor book
- Concentration, ageing and credit quality of the top five customers. Where one customer is more than roughly 25% of the book, the field of willing lenders narrows sharply.
- Security available
- Debenture, personal guarantee, property, stock or plant — and, just as importantly, what you are not willing to pledge. That answer is a legitimate constraint, not an obstacle.
- Existing facilities
- Covenants, cross-default clauses and early-repayment charges on what is already in place. New borrowing frequently trips a term buried in old borrowing.
- Purpose & term
- Bridging a known and dated gap, funding growth, or refinancing something expensive. Each points to a different instrument and a different lender.
- The deadline
- Whether there is a hard date. Two weeks and eight weeks are different markets with different pricing, and pretending otherwise wastes the first three of them.
03 · How we work
The order the work happens in.
The sequence matters as much as the content. Doing these in a different order is how good intentions turn into expensive corrections.
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Size the gap, not the ask
We work from the cash-flow forecast to the facility, not from the number the owner first mentions. It is usually a different number, and occasionally no facility is needed at all.
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Match the instrument to the cause
A term loan does not fix a working-capital gap, and invoice finance does not buy a machine. Most expensive borrowing in small businesses is the right amount of the wrong product.
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Price the whole facility
Arrangement, service, discount margin, non-utilisation and exit fees, expressed as one annual cost. Headline rates are not comparable and are not meant to be.
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Take it to the right desks
A prepared, well-evidenced case put to lenders who fund this sector and this shape of security — rather than a scattergun of applications, each of which leaves a mark.
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Negotiate the terms that bite
Covenants, personal guarantees and concentration limits determine what happens in a bad quarter. They matter more than the rate, and they are more negotiable than most owners assume.
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Review before renewal, not at it
Renewal terms arriving with two weeks' notice are terms you have to accept. We start the conversation months earlier.
04 · A worked example
What this looks like in practice.
£420,000 of working capital, closed in two weeks
A growth-stage energy business needed working capital against a security structure that did not fit any standard lending template, with a hard deadline two weeks out. Several mainstream lenders had already declined on the basis of the structure rather than the underlying credit.
We approached the desks that had funded comparable structures before, prepared the case around the actual quality of the contracted revenue, and closed inside the deadline.
Composed from the kind of work we do, with details changed and combined so that no client is identifiable. It is an illustration of an approach, not a promise of a particular outcome.
05 · Risks & disclosure
The part that is usually set in small type.
It is set here at the same size as everything else, because it is the same size in real life.
Approval is never guaranteed
All business finance carries risk. Lending is subject to individual lender criteria and approval is not guaranteed. Rates, fees and terms vary by lender, and personal guarantees, where required, may carry personal liability.
Business borrowing carries personal consequences
Personal guarantees and debentures put personal and company assets at risk. Directors should take independent legal advice before signing either, and we will say so every time.
Who this is for, and why it is unregulated
We assist with standard commercial loans, commercial mortgages, working capital lines, factoring, invoice discounting and general asset leasing. These are provided strictly to limited companies or large partnerships (four or more partners) and are generally unregulated: most business lending falls outside the FCA's consumer protections, and the Financial Ombudsman Service is available only to smaller businesses meeting its eligibility criteria.
Private equity participation can fail entirely
PE and co-investment positions are illiquid, long-dated, and can result in the total loss of the amount invested.
How we are paid
Rai Wealth Management may receive a fee or commission from lenders for introducing such business finance. Personalised advice is only provided following a full assessment of your circumstances, and should be sought before entering into any finance agreement.
Figures and allowances
Every allowance, threshold and rate on this page is stated for the UK 2026/27 tax year and is included to show how the work is done, not as advice you should act on. Thresholds change at Budgets, and tax treatment depends on your individual circumstances.
Regulatory information
Rai Wealth Management Ltd is registered as a private limited company in England and Wales under company number 12318787. Registered office: 6 Westholme Gardens, Ruislip, HA4 8QJ, United Kingdom. Rai Wealth Management Ltd works under a Contract for Services Agreement with Maystone Capital Ltd, which is directly authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority under reference number 758412. Rai Wealth Management Ltd is not directly authorised and is not an Appointed Representative; all regulated activities are undertaken by Maystone Capital Ltd. Rai Wealth Management Ltd is the data controller of personal data you provide to us and is registered with the Information Commissioner's Office under reference number ZA759299.
The full risk warnings and disclaimer apply to everything on this page.
Abhineet RaiFounder · Wealth Adviser · prepared this page
The other services
One relationship, the whole picture.
These are not separate products bought from separate people. Each service assumes the others exist.
Speak to us
A conversation, before anything else.
Tell us where you are and what you would like to achieve. We will reply personally — and if this is not the right service for you, we will say so.