Government-backed

Growth Guarantee Scheme: funding a business purchase

Updated 2026-10-28

The scheme is delivered by accredited lenders, who decide the loan; the government guarantees part of it.

Talk to a specialist The price, your deposit and the target's EBITDA. The lending limits come from lenders' own pages.

Price of the business you want to buy

Default: the £750,000 purchase in Novuna's worked example.

Your deposit (% of the price)

Novuna: deposit requirements typically range from 10% to 30% of the purchase price; its example puts down 20%.

The target's annual EBITDA

Profit before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation: what lenders measure debt service against.

Senior debt a lender will lend, as a multiple of EBITDA

Spark Finance: the standard leverage multiple for UK SME acquisitions is 2 to 4 times EBITDA for senior debt.

Interest rate (% a year)

Default: the 7.5% fixed rate on the government's Start Up Loans. Bank Rate is 3.75%; your lender sets its own rate.

Term (years)

Start Up Loans run 1 to 5 years; the Growth Guarantee Scheme allows terms up to ten years.

Buying the shares or the business's assets?

What you could borrow

£450,000

The lower of what the price still needs after your deposit and what the target's EBITDA supports at your multiple.

Your deposit	£150,000
Borrowing the deposit leaves to find	£600,000
What the profit supports at your multiple	£450,000
Still to find (more deposit, vendor finance or a second lender)	£150,000
Monthly repayment	£9,017
Repayments a year	£108,205
Times the EBITDA covers the year's repayments	1.39
Stamp Duty on a share purchase (0.5%)	£3,750

Send Joe your buying brief

What kind of business do you want to buy?

Roughly what price are you looking to pay?

Share purchase or asset purchase?

Buy the company's shares Buy the business and its assets Not sure yet

When do you want to buy?

Next: where to reach you. Free, no obligation.

How this calculator works

The leverage cap. Spark Finance: the standard leverage multiple for UK SME acquisitions is 2 to 4 times EBITDA for senior debt, with some specialist lenders stretching to 5 times. The calculator lends the smaller of that cap and what the price needs after your deposit. (Spark Finance: business acquisition finance in the UK)
The deposit. Novuna: in the UK, deposit requirements typically range from 10% to 30% of the purchase price. Capitalise puts lenders' share at between 70% and a maximum of 90% of the price for a well established, profitable target. (Novuna: business loans for buying a business, a complete UK guide)
The repayment. A capital-and-interest loan repaid monthly over the term at the rate you enter: no arrangement fees, no interest-only period, no balloon. The default rate is the 7.5% the government's Start Up Loans charge, a reference point and not an offer. (Start Up Loans terms, as listed on this site's government-backed finance dataset)
Stamp Duty and SDLT. A purchase of shares pays 0.5% duty. An asset purchase pays none on shares, but any freehold or lease in it pays SDLT at the non-residential rates (nothing up to £150,000, 2% on the next £100,000, 5% above £250,000), which the calculator does not add. (GOV.UK: SDLT non-residential and mixed rates)
Not an offer. Lenders also weigh the target's customers, the buyer's experience and the security available. The figure frames the conversation with a lender; it is not a decision.

The terms

Maximum facility generally £2m per business group.
A 70% government-backed guarantee to the lender.
Term loans from £25,001.
An annual turnover limit the British Business Bank says will rise from £45m to £54m.

The British Business Bank has also announced terms of up to ten years under the scheme.