About Us
Our Story
Based in Christchurch, Dorset, & Harpenden, Herts, Aben Capital was established to bring together our team’s experience of managing over £1bn of business lending, our knowledge from consulting for companies of all sizes and our passion for supporting businesses achieve their ambitions.
We understand that growth of SME’s is critical to the economy. However, it became clear to us that due to increasingly restrictive lending criteria - the growth of SME’s including property developers are too often held back by a lack of accessibility to financing options from traditional providers. Whilst this is being offset by the rapid growth in the alternative finance sector, the potential of such options may be missed by business people who don't have the time to keep on top of this constantly evolving sector.
Aben Capital can help your business unlock the potential of the best financing options available from the panel of 270 lenders we work with. We are focused on the outcomes you want to achieve and offer expert knowledge of an extensive range of financing options from both the conventional banking and alternative finance sectors – many not available to you direct.
We’ll undertake a free initial your review of your business and it’s finances, identify potential sources of finance, discuss these with you and completely manage the process from start to completion of funding – maximising your chance of raising finance on the best terms.
Our Team
Aben Capital is led by James Wallis and Stephen Findlay, with 40 years of combined experience, we've arranged over £2bn of finance for speciality lenders, property developers and companies. Many clients view us as their trusted adviser. We are supported by our small team of BDMs and Client Service managers.
James Wallis
James qualified as an accountant with Deloitte in 2004 and then spent 10+ years in structured finance and was an investment director at a leading CLO fund with personal responsibility for investing £1bn.
He has arranged £100Ms of development finance and property development transactions, focusing on the mid-market (10-200 units).
James lives in Christchurch, Dorset with his wife and three children.
Stephen Findlay
Steve qualified as an accountant with Deloitte in 2004 and then spent 10+ years in Private Equity, including co-establishing Fidelity Equity Partners $500M technology buyout fund.
He then set up and ran a co-investment platform which invested £150M across 2,000+ bridge and development loans over 5 years.
Steve lives in Harpenden, Herts, with his wife and three children.
Testimonials
“We work with James at Aben Capital for all of our debt financing needs and find his integrity, market knowledge, connections and ability to negotiate the best terms for us as being second to none. As time has gone by, we see James more as an extension to our business who we turn to early in a project to discuss options and ideas - rather than only for debt sourcing.”
Simon Ismail, Co-Founder & MD, Salboy
“Over the years James has been instrumental in helping my property development business obtain development finance for our various sites. James places a lot of attention on the lenders ability to perform with quick turnarounds, desirable terms and robust lending. Moreover, James has provided excellent advice on financially structuring our sites to achieve the best return on equity whilst keeping debt at a suitable level. I would highly recommend James to anyone looking to obtain development finance.”
Alexander Addis, MD, Addis Homes.
“As successful property developers with several developments on the go at any one time we rely on competitive deals for our sites and a wide range of funding from small amounts to many millions. James helps to smooth the process and has always been the ultimate professional finding the right funder for each project. Development finance can be a very involved process and James makes this as easy as possible and is always helpful. Highly recommended”
Bill Buckler, MD Bayview Developments.
The Aben Expert Network
We have a unique expert network with over 150 years of combined experience in business, property and finance across a range of sectors that we can call upon to get your deal done. Our experts also help us keep up to date with the latest financing offerings available from our lending partners. This is at no extra cost to you – but ensures there is always the specialist help on hand if necessary.