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p>Following the successful revival of famous British motorbike marques of the past, Triumph in 1990, Norton in 2009 and Ariel last year, the successful relaunch of another famous name had been in doubt.
Hesketh Motorcycles, founded by the late Lord Hesketh, responsible for the success of Hesketh Formula 1 cars in the 1970’s with superstar driver, James Hunt, had been through a succession of owners before being bought by entrepreneur and motorcycle aficionado, Paul Sleeman.
In order to develop the new prototypes, based on the iconic Weslake engined Hesketh V1000, in the teeth of a growing recession, Paul was unable to arrange any business funding, even though he had owned and run a successful business as inventor of the Diesel Key, an anti misfuelling device.
As he had never borrowed via an overdraft or bank loan and therefore had an almost non-existent credit footprint, when he needed development funding the banks turned their backs on him.
At his wit’s end, Paul was introduced to Alpha Bridging, whose MD, Mercedez Binning went down to meet Paul at his premises in Redhill, Surrey to talk over his funding requirements.
Paul’s concept was to produce a premium priced limited edition bike, the Hesketh 24, and with the initial prototypes having already been well received by the press, the only thing missing was the funding
Within 48 hours a loan for £30000 was arranged to help produce the first five production bikes. Alpha Bridging took a charge over the premises and two classic bikes and the loan was repaid after four months on the sale of the new bikes.
Success followed with a stunning debut for the bike at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last year and the limited run of 24 bikes, retailing at £35,000 each have now all been sold or allocated.
As Paul Sleeman said, “Much to my surprise and delight, Alpha Bridging Solutions were as passionate about helping small businesses and manufacturing growth in the UK as I was. I was not only offered a financial package with an affordable interest rate but with incredible flexibility. Almost best of all, I finally had a real person to talk to, not a computer.
“Now with a safety net from Alpha, we set about developing the all new Hesketh 24 motorcycle. Our target was to show the world the first new Hesketh in 32 years at the Goodwood Festival Of Speed 2014. This we achieved by ourselves: just Hesketh and Alpha. No banks, no governments, no other support.”
Mercedez Binning, Managing Director of Alpha Bridging Solutions added, “I’m proud to run one of the fastest, most flexible bridging loan companies in the UK, and to have been able to help Paul bring this great British bike back into production. Hesketh Motorcycles really live up to their legend of ‘hand built luxury’, so they deserve the success they’re now seeing.”
In 2015, Paul Sleeman has been able to increase staffing levels and is working on the next new Hesketh superbike, in the knowledge that future funding need never be a problem again.
Following the successful revival of famous British motorbikes of the past, Triumph in 1990, Norton in 2009 and Ariel last year, the successful relaunch of.
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