Together management team win BVCA award

The Together management team from specialist lender, Together, has been named Large Company Management Team of the Year at the annual British Venture Capitalists’ Association (BVCA) Management Team Awards for the North West region.

The prestigious awards, held in association with Grant Thornton UK LLP, acknowledge and celebrate the successes and achievements of businesses which receive funding from private equity and venture capital.

Equistone (formerly Barclays Private Equity), a leading European mid-market private equity house, acquired a minority stake in Together in September 2006, with the majority held by the founder and CEO of the business, Henry Moser.

Together has also secured funding from a variety of other channels; including two securitisation programmes and a bond issuance, with combined facilities in excess of £1.5bn, in addition to over £550m of shareholder funds,  which has helped the business to fulfil demand across all of its markets.

Its range of products includes bridging finance, auction finance, residential, buy-to-let and commercial mortgages, and secured loans.

The group, which has been trading successfully for 42 years, has now firmly established itself as a leading specialist lender, with a current loan book in excess of £1.7 billion, and total new lending for the year ended 31 March 2016 at £971 million.

Group chairman of Together, Mike McTighe, (pictured) said: “We’re very proud to receive this acknowledgement of what the management team has achieved here at Together. Since the time of the investment, the business has demonstrated robust performance, proving resilient in the recessionary period and trading successfully through different economic cycles. The significant growth of the group over the past decade is a testament to the passion and commitment of the leadership team, with Equistone being a highly supportive partner to the business. 

“To support our ongoing expansion we’ve invested heavily in our infrastructure and in our staff headcount, which has grown by 78 per cent in the past ten years.  We currently employ over 460 dedicated colleagues at our Cheadle-based headquarters who make a huge contribution to our success.”

The accolade follows the implementation of a new corporate governance structure, with the business now being divided into two distinct units for retail and commercial, with independent boards.  The lender has also recently made a spate of senior appointments, bringing in a wealth of expertise from across the financial services industry, consolidating a dynamic leadership team to help drive the business forward.