The message from Dame Anne Glover at Travers Smith's 5th annual Alternative Insights Summit last month was direct: UK pension funds should invest more in early-stage venture and growth stage capital. The figures certainly support that view.

Travers Smith advised Triple Point on the origination of a senior revolving credit facility to Plend, an FCA-authorised consumer lender focused on providing responsible, affordable credit to borrowers underserved by traditional high-street lenders.

Travers Smith has advised long-standing client, Volex plc, the specialist integrated manufacturer of critical power and data transmission products, on its move from AIM to the Equity Shares (Commercial Companies) Category of the Official List of the Financial Conduct Authority and to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange.

Travers Smith LLP has advised Inflexion and its portfolio company Noventis Safety on the refinancing of Noventis Safety's financing arrangements. The refinancing was supported by Ares Management and HSBC UK.

A chatbot that sounds human, an image generator that produces photorealistic content, a voice cloning tool - they all make it harder to distinguish machine-produced content from human-created work. The risks of sophisticated generative and interactive AI - misinformation, manipulation at scale, impersonation, and fraud - are growing.

Signs of a marked acceleration in UK sanctions enforcement continue to emerge. In the months since our last update, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ("OFSI") has now deployed its new settlement scheme across multiple cases, imposed penalties on both UK and non-UK entities (including where proactive approaches to establishing ownership and control linkages to designated persons were not taken), and signalled clearly that its enforcement focus will extend beyond Russia to other sanctions regimes - most notably, Iran.

Travers Smith has advised Bridgepoint Credit on the financing arrangements in relation to the acquisition of AirStart Inc. by Sentry Aerospares, a portfolio company of Acorn Capital Management.

A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry 

Welcome to Frontline by Travers Smith – our series addressing the key issues affecting the defence sector. 

Every firm carrying out payment, e-money or banking services in the UK should pay close attention to the consultation paper titled Modernising Payment Services Regulation (the CP), published by His Majesty's Treasury (HMT) on 14 July 2026. While Bastille Day may not have been a deliberate choice of publication date (and we are not cynical enough to suggest that there is a pre-summer holiday race to publish taking place among policymakers), it is suitably appropriate, as this paper may herald a genuine revolution in the regulation of payments in the UK.

The draft Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill was published in January 2026 and has been controversial from the start. One of its key aims is to cap ground rents in existing long residential leases at £250 a year from an implementation date in late 2028, reducing in 2068 to a peppercorn.  This follows from a previous consultation under the last Conservative government in 2023/24 which weighed up five different options for tackling excessive ground rents.

On 4 June this year, HMRC quietly updated its published guidance in relation to input tax recovery for defined benefit (DB) pension schemes. These changes to HMRC's internal VAT Input Tax Manual clarify an improved position for the way in which input tax on asset management costs can be recovered, but appear to make recovery of input tax on administration costs more difficult.

Travers Smith advised ProService Building Services Marketplace plc ("ProService") on its refinancing, comprising the issue of up to £25 million floating rate secured convertible loan notes due 2031 to Ravensworth (International) Limited and entry into a £35 million asset-based lending revolving credit facility with Leumi UK Group Limited.

Travers Smith LLP has advised long-standing client IK Partners on the sale of Forthglade, a leading natural pet food manufacturer, to Assisi Pet Care, a leading UK-based producer of premium natural pet food and treats backed by Wind Point Partners.