Finance the trade
you’re already doing.
Working capital tied to real transactions, bespoke credit engineered around your assets, and liquidity unlocked from what you already own. Trade finance, private credit and asset-backed financing — three facility types, structured deal-by-deal around how African trade actually happens, not a generic bank template.
Trade Finance
Get working capital tied to real transactions — invoices, receivables, purchase orders, inventory. The facility repays itself out of the sale, then frees up again for your next trade.
Get paid on invoices now
Invoice and receivables financing: unlock cash tied up in unpaid invoices without waiting out your buyers' payment terms.
Funding for confirmed orders and stock
Purchase-order and inventory financing: fund confirmed orders and stock on hand so a shortage of upfront cash never holds up an order.
Supply chain financing
Extend working capital through large buyers and aggregators to fund the suppliers in their network.
Bigger deals, shared with partners
Larger or higher-risk trades are structured alongside partners who share the risk with us.
Kept off your balance sheet
Where it matters, facilities can be arranged so the financed trade does not sit on your balance sheet.
Who uses trade finance
Importers and exporters funding shipments
Cover supplier payments and shipping costs while goods are in transit, without disrupting cash flow.
Large buyers funding their suppliers
Keep critical suppliers funded and delivering by extending working capital through your own buying relationship.
Traders covering the gap between buying and selling
Bridge the gap between paying for goods and collecting on the sale, cycle after cycle.
- Facility size
- Sized to your trade flow — scoped at appraisal following your enquiry
- Structure
- Revolving, transaction-backed, self-liquidating
- Tenor per cycle
- 60 – 120 days, matched to trade cycle
- Pricing
- Benchmark (SOFR) + margin, per transaction; indicative terms on application
- Currencies
- USD, EUR, NGN, ETB, GHS, KES and other African currencies
- Security
- Bespoke package: receivables assignment, collection account control, credit insurance, corporate guarantees as applicable
- Eligible flows
- Physical commodity and goods imports/exports across approved African corridors
Private Credit
When the financing doesn't exist, we structure it. The Starks Structured Private Credit Programme (SPCP) designs the facility and provides the funding — built around your assets, contracts and cash flows, not a loan product with a rate card.
Repayments that follow your cash flow
Repayment profiles engineered to your actual receipts — contract milestones, offtake payments, seasonal collections — not rigid monthly amortisation.
A credit line that grows with your book
A borrowing-base facility: the amount you can draw is sized against your eligible receivables, inventory or contracted revenues, so it grows as your book grows.
Credit secured on what you own
Credit secured on securities portfolios, equipment, real assets or a blend — including mezzanine and holdco structures layered above senior bank debt.
Credit that repays from the trade itself
Self-liquidating structures where repayment flows directly from the underlying trade — collections accounts, assigned receivables, controlled waterfalls.
Ring-fenced in its own vehicle
Where the deal warrants it, we structure through a dedicated company (an SPV) — keeping the financed assets and cash flows separate from wider group risk.
Refinancing and bridge funding
Recapitalisation, refinancing and bridge structures for businesses in transition — designed around the path back to conventional funding.
- Facility size
- Determined by the structure — scoped at appraisal following your enquiry
- Tenor
- 6 – 36 months
- Instruments
- Senior secured, mezzanine, unitranche, convertible and hybrid structures; term, revolving and bridge formats
- Security architecture
- Layered packages: fixed and floating charges, receivables assignment, collection account control, share pledges, SPV ring-fencing, guarantees
- Repayment mechanics
- Amortising, bullet, cash-sweep or waterfall-linked — engineered to the underlying cash flows
- Pricing
- Fixed or benchmark-linked, reflecting structure and risk; indicative terms on application
- Borrower profile
- Mid-market corporates with African operations, identifiable assets or contracted cash flows, and audited financials
Important: SPCP is positioned strictly as Starks structuring and lending from its own balance sheet to corporate borrowers. No indicative rates are published. Legal disclaimers apply per jurisdiction.
Asset-Backed Financing
Turn assets into liquidity without selling them. Starks structures and funds facilities secured on the assets and cash flows you already own — securities portfolios, receivables, contracted revenues — without diluting equity or waiting for assets to mature.
Unlock dormant value
If it generates cash or holds value — securities portfolios, invoices, contracted revenues — we structure liquidity against it.
Cash without giving up equity
Access liquidity without selling equity or surrendering governance. The asset secures the finance.
Security built around the asset
Security packages designed around the asset class: pledges, assignments, collection accounts, custodial arrangements.
Repaid by the asset itself
Repayment is structured directly from the asset's cash generation — receivables collections, portfolio distributions, contract milestones.
- Facility size
- Determined by advance rate × eligible asset value; scoped following appraisal
- Advance rate
- Typically 50–80% of appraised value or face value, depending on asset class and quality
- Tenor
- 6 – 36 months; matched to the maturity or cash generation cycle of the underlying asset
- Eligible assets
- Securities portfolios, trade receivables, contracted cash flows, equipment with resale value, IP licensing streams
- Security structure
- Pledges, receivables assignment, collection account control, custodial arrangements, debentures
- Repayment
- Directly from the underlying asset's proceeds (collections, distributions, maturities)
- Pricing
- Benchmark + margin, reflecting asset quality and LTV; indicative terms on application
- Borrower profile
- Corporates, trading entities, and institutional investors with identifiable, financeable assets
Important: Asset-backed financing involves pledging or assigning assets and is subject to due diligence, valuation, security perfection requirements and margin maintenance covenants. Legal disclaimers apply per jurisdiction.
How It Works
The same four-stage discipline underpins every facility we structure, whether it's funding a shipment, engineering a credit structure, or unlocking liquidity from an asset.
Structure
We assess your trade flow, assets or contracted cash flows — buyers, suppliers, tenors, corridors, security — and design the facility around them.
Fund
We disburse against approved transactions or completed documentation: supplier invoices, letters of credit, confirmed purchase orders, or perfected security.
Trade or deploy
Your goods ship and sell, or your facility is drawn against the underlying assets. Collections flow through designated accounts we monitor together.
Settle
The facility self-liquidates from sale proceeds or asset cash flows within the agreed cycle, then revolves for your next shipment or drawdown where structured to do so.
Eligibility
Eligibility criteria are matched to the facility type, but every client we fund is an established corporate with a demonstrable track record and audited financials. Both African companies trading internationally and international companies trading into or investing in Africa are eligible.
Trade finance
A demonstrable trading track record of at least two years; audited financial statements; identifiable end-buyers or confirmed offtake; and trade flows touching African markets.
Private credit
At least two years of audited financial statements; identifiable assets, contracts or recurring cash flows capable of supporting a structure; and a clear commercial purpose. If your financing need has been declined because it doesn't fit a standard credit product, that is usually where our work begins.
Asset-backed financing
Ownership or contractual rights to identifiable, financeable assets; the legal ability to pledge or assign those assets; and a commercial use for the liquidity. Facilities are credit- and collateral-assessed, and documentation includes security perfection and covenants such as LTV maintenance for portfolio-backed structures.
Frequently Asked Questions
Let’s structure it.
Every Starks facility starts with a conversation about your actual flows — not a form. Speak to the structured products team directly.
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