Business finance

Business Partners Limited is a specialist risk finance company for formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa, and selected African countries. The company actively supports entrepreneurial growth by providing financing, specialist sectoral knowledge and added-value services for viable small and medium businesses.

General finance solutions

The core of the company’s focus is on providing finance for formal small and medium enterprises.

Business Partners Limited structures unique, individualised financing solutions. Deals are structured using equity, shareholders’ loan accounts, revenue sharing and term loans or any combination of these. Business Partners Limited has developed a range of proprietal financing models that offer entrepreneurs maximum flexibility to suit their specific needs.

Applications for finance are assessed on the viability of a business, which comprises two important elements:

• the business and
• the entrepreneur

The business evaluation includes matters such as the product or service and its market acceptability, market size, the gearing of the business, and its ability to exist and grow, as well as the business’s history, the stage of its development and medium- to long-term profit potential, technical aspects and the location of the business.

In evaluating the entrepreneur, aspects such the ability to run a successful business on sound business principles, integrity, drive, vision and appropriate experience, are considered.

Business Partners Limited considers financing applications up to R50 million in all sectors of the economy — with the exception of on-lending activities, direct farming operations, underground mining and non-profit organisations — to those formal small and medium businesses whose gross assets are under R100 million, where annual turnover does not exceed R200 million and/or employees are less than 500 in number.

Applications for financing below R500 000 are usually not considered; and the company does not operate in the informal or micro enterprise sectors.

We require a complete business plan to be in place before an entrepreneur can apply for investment finance from us. A guide to writing a business plan can be found under our Knowledge hub. The business plan can be emailed to us at enquiries@businesspartners.co.za or delivered to any of our offices country-wide.

Alternatively, you are welcome to submit a finance enquiry online and one of our investment officers will contact you.

Property solutions

Purchasing commercial and industrial property will always be an attractive venture as an entrepreneur – either to secure tenure for your own business operations or as a sound long-term investment.

For SMEs renting premises may seem to offer greater flexibility than ownership. However, long-term tenancy is not guaranteed and improvements and alterations made to rented premises will be lost if the lease cannot be renewed.

By owning your property you are not only securing a place to trade for as long as you choose, but it will also grow the overall equity of your business. Calculations show that by purchasing property for your own use, you can save up to 50% on premises costs over a 10-year period, without compromising your business’ cash resources.

For entrepreneurs looking to add a property component to their investment portfolio, multi-tenant properties are attractive and viable options, as they provide both capital appreciation and rental incomes. We offer investment financing solutions for a wide range of commercial and industrial premises and the expertise to match the needs of each individual business and/or entrepreneurial investor with the right property.

Property finance solutions

These include:

• The purchase of retail and industrial complexes valued up to R85 million.
• Co-investing in retail, industrial and other commercial investments valued up to R150 million.
• Finance of up to 110% of the purchase price for owner occupied business properties (subject to terms & conditions).
• The purchase of business properties for leasing back in order to unlock capital for business expansions.
• Up to 100% finance on existing business occupied properties to unlock capital for business expansion or other requirements (subject to terms & conditions).
• Tailor-made property financing solutions.
• Applications are considered in all sectors of the economy with the exception of on-lending activities, direct farming operations, underground mining and non-profit organisations.

Please note, applications for financing below R500 000 are usually not considered; and we do not operate in the informal or micro-enterprise sectors.