ThinCats

Amany Attia serves as CEO and leads the firm's overall strategy, while Ravi Anand is the Managing Director overseeing the commercial lending operation. Credit decisions flow through regional business directors who originate loans and a central underwriting committee that assesses deal quality. The team relies on a proprietary data platform to screen potential borrowers, supplementing traditional financial analysis with alternative data indicators.

ThinCats operates a sponsorless origination model, meaning it avoids deals introduced by private equity firms. Instead, the firm employs a network of regional business directors across the UK who identify owner-operated companies directly. The process typically starts with a referral from accountants, lawyers, or corporate finance advisors — not from a PE sponsor running a competitive auction. This reduces the number of bidders on each deal and allows ThinCats to set its own pricing and covenant terms.

ThinCats began as a peer-to-peer platform in 2011 but has since pivoted almost entirely to institutional lending. It paused new retail investment as part of this transition, instead raising its funding from institutional investors such as Insight Investment, which committed £700 million in 2023 (per the firm, September 2023). A legacy pool of retail noteholders remains, but the firm now operates as a balance-sheet, non-bank alternative lender rather than a marketplace.

ThinCats writes senior secured floating-rate loans of £1 million to £15 million to UK companies generating EBITDA between £1 million and £10 million. The firm focuses on established, cash-flowing businesses — no startups, no biotech — in sectors such as healthcare services, enterprise software, industrial technology, and business services. Loans typically fund growth capex, acquisitions, management buyouts, and recapitalizations.

ThinCats does not operate as a fund-of-funds, nor does it make equity investments. It provides direct senior secured loans from its own balance sheet and funded vehicles. All lending is bilateral — the firm does not participate in syndicated loan clubs or act as a junior capital provider. Each loan is a single-lender position, which means ThinCats takes the full credit risk on every deal.

ThinCats does not co-invest alongside GPs. Its entire strategy rests on being the sole lender, which it enforces by avoiding sponsor-backed deals entirely. This posture eliminates the need to negotiate intercreditor agreements or share security packages, giving ThinCats full control over restructuring conversations if a borrower underperforms.

In September 2023, Insight Investment provided a £700 million institutional funding mandate to ThinCats, effectively anchoring the firm's current lending book. Insight is not an owner of ThinCats, but the mandate functions like a separately managed account — Insight supplies the capital, while ThinCats originates, underwrites, and services all loans. The structure gives ThinCats committed medium-term capital without requiring it to raise a blind-pool fund.