Shawbrook Bank has announced an undisclosed investment in private-equity backed Access Partnership.

The international firm, also backed by Mobeus Equity Partners, specialises in shaping international public policy for the global technology sector.

Access Partnership has witnessed rapid growth in recent years, driven by market dynamics around increasing regulatory pressures in data security, communications and artificial intelligence.

Supported by Mobeus, the Access Partnership management team are pursuing a period of organic and acquisitive growth, which has now been further funded by the undisclosed commercial facility from Shawbrook, a specialist lender to UK SMEs.

“Governments and their citizen-stakeholders want technology on terms that are fair and, as much as possible, secure and future-proof,” commented Access Partnership managing director, Greg Francis.

“Our clients demand that we create forward-looking policies to achieve this. Shawbrook’s experience of working with consultancy and professional services businesses like ours was immediately obvious and the facility they have provided will enable us to best meet client demand.”

Mobeus is an SME mid-market private equity house which specialises in investing between £2m and £20m in UK SMEs. Investment director, Freddie Bacon, revealed the group was attracted to working with Shawbrook as a result of its “strong track record of supporting sponsor-backed SMEs in the UK”.

“The funding facility they’ve structured will provide us with flexibility and demonstrates that the Shawbrook team are attuned to how we operate,” Bacon said.

“It has been a pleasure working with Shawbrook and their support will enable Access Partnership to leverage its position in the market and to expand both here in the UK and internationally.”

Relationship director within Shawbrook’s corporate lending team, Oliver Sutton, added: “The Mobeus team has built a strong relationship with the senior management at Access Partnership Group, as you’d expect, and we’re now very happy to support the strategy of further growth through acquisition by putting in place this financing. Exciting times for Greg and the team.”

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