Unlocking opportunities in sponsorless SME loans

Patrick Marshall dispels three myths around investing in sponsorless SMEs

clock • 3 min read
Unlocking opportunities in sponsorless SME loans

Most direct lenders focus on sponsor-backed small- and mid-cap transactions to gain access to the lower end of the corporate market. However, they are missing a crucial and attractive piece of the jigsaw: the loan market for European, sponsorless, senior-secured small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

One of the key drivers for investing in this market is its size: SMEs account for a large share of the loan transactions arranged each year in Europe. Tapping into this space can provide a wide ran...

To continue reading this article...

Join Professional Pensions

Become a Professional Pensions Lite Member today

  • Three complimentary articles per month covering the latest real-time news, analysis and opinion from the industry
  • Receive important and breaking news stories via our two daily news alerts
  • Hear from industry experts and other forward-thinking leaders

Are you a trustee, investment consultant or in-house pension and benefit scheme professional? You can apply for full complimentary access here

Join now

 

Already a Professional Pensions
member?

Login

More on Investment

Rothesay to provide majority funding for sustainable university redevelopment

Rothesay to provide majority funding for sustainable university redevelopment

Multi-decade partnership with the University of Manchester reaches financial close

Alex Levy
clock 04 August 2026 • 1 min read
Burnham urged to stem flow of UK pension capital into US tech stocks

Burnham urged to stem flow of UK pension capital into US tech stocks

Think tank calls concentration of UK pension investment in US tech stocks a ‘systemic risk’

Alex Levy
clock 30 July 2026 • 3 min read
Partner Insight: Can stewardship shape real world outcomes for pension funds?

Partner Insight: Can stewardship shape real world outcomes for pension funds?

Stewardship has moved well beyond voting statistics. For pension investors, it is now about whether engagement is shaping real-world outcomes across climate, people, governance and systems-level risks.

Royal London Asset Management
clock 29 July 2026 • 5 min read
Trustpilot