Stenn, a UK-based non-bank trade finance provider, has secured investments from Barclays, Coface and Crayhill Capital Management in its latest investment round.

The funding is for Stenn’s core trade financing programme, Stenn Assets Funding, which has now been scaled up to US$500mn.

A spokesperson for Stenn tells GTR that the programme was worth US$150mn in July 2019 and was upsized to US$300mn in November 2019.

Barclays, Coface and Crayhill join Stenn’s financing programme alongside existing investors, which include French bank Natixis, the arranger of the programme, and asset managers NN Investment Partners and M&G.

The funding round follows a new US$200mn facility closed on May 11 from New York-based Crayhill. That programme, Stenn Direct Funding, carries an accordion feature and is structured to make working capital more accessible for Stenn’s new and existing clients through its digital services.

Chris Rigby, global head of finance and capital markets at Stenn, says: “We are delighted to have secured an upsize and extension of Stenn’s core AR funding programme. Notwithstanding the recent dislocation in global capital markets as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Stenn has proven capable of developing innovative and scalable financing architecture, as well as attracting and retaining capital from a world-class group of banks and institutional investors.”

Speaking to GTR in a previous article, Stenn Group president Kerstin Braun stressed that alternative sources of capital for trade are important, saying it’s unclear whether governments have committed enough support and, if not, “whether banks will step in on their own”.

Recent research carried out by the UK-based alternative trade financier also found that 80% of executives at medium to large-sized businesses in the UK, US and China were considering switching from traditional banks to alternative lenders for their trade finance.