Cases · Case detail
How an infrastructure firm bought out its bank and could grow again
An infrastructure firm in the east of the Netherlands was jammed: the bank would not go further, but held on to all the security. New finance looked impossible. A business loan from SOOF Finance bought out the bank position, the pledges were released, and the business could grow again, combined with factoring.
The situation
The bank held everything and released nothing
An infrastructure firm in the east of the Netherlands had worked happily with its own bank for years. When the business wanted to grow further, it got stuck. There were plenty of contracts. The bottleneck was in the finance. A familiar pattern in construction and infrastructure, where security is often already tied up.
"The bank would not come along with my growth plans," the owner-director says. "No extra headroom, no new finance. Fine, I thought, then I will look elsewhere. But that is when I found out how jammed I really was."
The problem: all his security was pledged to the bank. Receivables, plant, everything. "I wanted to grow, I had the contracts, but on paper I had nothing free to base new finance on. The bank sat on everything, and released nothing."
The approach
Breaking the stalemate
The heart of the problem was the pledge. A business loan turned out to be the key, combined with factoring on the invoices. "The bank had everything: my receivables, my plant, literally all I owned. They would not lend more themselves, but would not release the security either. That leaves you jammed."
Other financiers came unstuck on it. "I would knock on a door and the first thing they asked was: is your security free? No, it was not. End of conversation. Nobody wants to step in while the bank sits on everything."
At SOOF Finance that was exactly the starting point. "They said: that pledge, we will sort it out. I had not heard that before."
How it works
SOOF funded the buy-out of the bank position. That released the pledges, and the security became available again. "It is precision work, I noticed that. Several parties are involved and the order matters. But SOOF ran the process, so I did not end up in the middle of it."
After the buy-out, the freed-up headroom could go to work. "We combined the business loan with factoring on my project invoices. So now I fund the start-up of a project, and once the stage payments come in it runs by itself. That is exactly the breathing space I was missing."
The results
ReviewsReviews
What others say
Through working with SOOF, we are strong in more than just foundation work.
The onboarding was well organised. A simple process with fast payment.
We are very satisfied with what they offer, the way they work and the speed of payment. On top of that they think along with us actively and are always easy to reach. The contact is pleasant and professional.
We grow seriously every year, but finding suitable finance for a young business turned out to be hard. From the first contact with SOOF: short lines, pointed questions, quick to move. My feeling straight away was that they understand entrepreneurs here.
SOOF responds to the growing capital need in automotive. Vehicles on their way to their final destination are advanced against efficiently, so that we keep enough working capital to keep growing. Short lines, quick decisions, and a relationship that goes further than the transaction.
Rob
Directeur-eigenaar van een infrabedrijf, regio Oost-Nederland
"The biggest difference is peace of mind. I no longer lie awake wondering whether the bank will move with me. My security is free, and I can look ahead again. No more months that feel like survival."
"What I value is that they know construction. They understand that I pre-fund materials and subcontractors while the client only pays per stage. No explanation was needed there."
"And honestly: the fact that they coordinated the whole buy-out is something I would never have managed myself. Too many parties, too much sequencing. Them taking that off my hands was what decided it for me."
Frequently asked questions
A business loan from SOOF is mainly intended to restructure existing finance and buy out the bank, so that pledges are released. After that you combine that headroom with factoring or inventory finance.
Yes. That is central to our approach. We have experience coordinating these processes and keep control towards your bank, so that you do not end up in the middle. How pledging works is set out in what is a pledge.
Most of the work is in the set-up and the coordination, and SOOF does that. After that the ongoing administrative burden is low. We make clear in advance what we need from you.
For SMEs. We work to measure, including in more complex situations with several parties.
The situations in our cases come from our own practice. We publish them anonymised: names, companies, amounts and other details have been changed, so that a case cannot be traced back to an individual client. Working capital is client data, and we keep that confidential. A case describes one situation and says nothing about the outcome in your case.
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