Non-bank lenders recorded 56 deals in the UK and Europe for the final quarter of last year, compared to 18 in the first quarter.
Fenton Burgin, head of UK Debt Advisory at Deloitte, said: “As the UK becomes a more competitive market place, US funders based in London are looking at Europe to buy debt and deploy excess liquidity from shareholders.
“Alternative lenders’ bespoke structures and greater flexibility provide an attractive option to traditional leveraged bank lending.”
The final quarter of 2013 saw a number of UK household names use alternative lenders with debt up to £300 million, such as Caffè Nero, Doc Martens, Zenith, Phase Eight and the independent brewery Hall & Woodhouse.
Burgin added: “On the back of our analysis we envisage that alternative lenders will play an increasingly important part of the market, as the M&A environment is expected to improve significantly over the year.”
