London-based Close Invoice Finance (CIF), part of the FTSE 250 banking group Close Brothers, has acquired a business in Northern Ireland.

London-based Close Invoice Finance (CIF), part of the FTSE 250 banking group Close Brothers, has acquired a business in Northern Ireland.

It has bought the factoring business of Belfast-based Ulster Factors for an undisclosed sum, two years after CIF opened its first office in the province.

David Thomson, chief executive of CIF, says, ‘This acquisition will allow us to support even greater numbers of cash-strapped SMEs and offer them a lifeline at a time when other forms of finance, notably bank lending, have dried up.’