With the participation, NLInvesteert combines its national advisory network with the efficient financing capacity of Casarion. According to both parties, this creates a stronger proposition for entrepreneurs looking for suitable financing.
"For Dutch entrepreneurs and real estate parties, this means we can combine our advice with direct access to efficient and competitively priced financing," says Takke. "
Access to foreign capital
Casarion works with a financing mandate from one of the largest international investment banks, through which international capital flows find their way to the Dutch real estate market. NLInvesteert and Casarion want to deploy that capacity more broadly in the coming period, including by developing a specific financing product for SMEs. "There is a lot of capital available, but it does not always find its way to entrepreneurs by itself," says Takke. "With this collaboration, we are building a new bridge between international financiers and the Dutch business community."
Building a strong new funding channel together
"We are working on a model where distribution, funding, and servicing come together," says founder and managing director Arco ten Klooster of Casarion. On one hand, this new partnership provides operational advantages. "Think of shared IT, compliance, and back office," explains Ten Klooster. On the other hand, there is also commercial synergy. "NLInvesteert has a large network of SME clients, we have access to relatively cheap funding."
For the clients of both companies, not much will change in the short term, Ten Klooster and Takke say. Ten Klooster: "Both brands will continue to exist alongside each other, but under the hood, we are building something bigger: a combination of the customized advice from NLInvesteert and the efficient financing capacity of Casarion."
Consolidation wave
The collaboration fits within a broader development in which lending is increasingly shifting from banks to non-bank parties. According to NLInvesteert, this requires scale and further professionalization, leading to a consolidation wave where more and more mergers and other collaborations are expected, says Takke.
"Consolidation is not a choice, but a necessity," he continues. "A new market has emerged in which a substantial part of lending now takes place outside of banks. You need sufficient scale to build a future-proof model."
According to NLInvesteert, the consolidation wave in the sector is already in full swing. The number of providers has decreased significantly in recent years, partly due to stricter regulations and the need for scale. "You can see that the market for alternative lending is maturing quickly," says Takke.
"In parts of the market, such as crowdfunding, the number of parties has dropped from forty to fifty to about ten in five years. This shows that not everyone is big enough to survive. Scale advantages play a role, but also the rising costs of, for example, AI, supervision, and compliance."
