£10.5m funding deal from Reward accelerates next stage of growth for Yorkshire home buying business

A Yorkshire-based property company, which specialises in buying homes for cash in just seven days, is eyeing further expansion having gained full shareholding ownership of the business after securing a £10.5m funding solution.

The Property Buying Company based in Wetherby, is primarily utilising the facility provided by Reward Finance Group to buy out a London investment and lending company, which has owned a 50% shareholding in the business since 2017.

The complexity and speed of the buy-out meant that it needed a lender that could offer the pace and flexibility of funding. The deal is the highest single lend provided by Reward, which specialises in providing tailored business finance and asset based solutions to SMEs across England, Wales and Scotland.

The Property Buying Company was founded in 2012 by Karl McArdle and Jonny Christie and has rapidly grown into the UK’s largest house cash buyer. It guarantees a swift property transaction in any location nationwide to vendors facing a range of lifestyle circumstances, such as having recently inherited a property or needing a quick sale due to a chain break.

The company is now looking to accelerate the next stage of its growth plans, with the funding allowing it to further bolster its systems, infrastructure and recruit, whilst being in a position to complete a significantly increased volume of property purchases in the year ahead.

Karl McArdle, co-founder for The Property Buying Company, said: “We’re hugely grateful to the contribution made by investors who have helped us rapidly expand the business over the last 11 years.

It’s been an amazing journey. However, we’d always hoped to regain full shareholding to gain greater control over the direction of the business. Now feels like the right time to make that move as we enter a major phase of growth.

“We turned to Reward as we needed a lender which understood our business and could provide a fast and flexible funding solution of this size and complexity which also involved taking 49 properties as security in a short space of time. The additional working capital will provide the catalyst for expansion and gear us up for what promises to be an exciting 12 months ahead.”

Dave Jones, Reward’s founding director, added: “I’ve recently had the pleasure of spending a significant amount of time with both Karl and Jonny, to get under the skin of their business and structure a deal which is bespoke to their needs. They’ve built up a fantastic business and so we’re really pleased to have been able to provide an agile finance solution that has enabled them to regain full ownership and fuel future expansion.

“A single deal of this lending size, being in excess of £10m, is also a first for Reward and a real landmark for the business. We have now completed over 2,000 deals. However, it seems very fitting that this milestone has been achieved by supporting Karl and Jonny, as Reward also first started its own journey in Leeds at a very similar time to them.”