Funding Circle says Azzurro Associates dispute reached “favourable” settlement

Funding Circle has announced that a “favourable” settlement has been reached on a longstanding debt dispute between Azzurro Associates and the personal guarantors of two defaulted loans.

The London-listed SME finance provider said the dispute had been resolved “following a settlement initiated by the personal guarantors and resulting in a payment to Azzurro”.

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The long-running dispute has been heard at the High Court, in a case alleging that omissions in Funding Circle’s documentation led to Azzurro being unable to pursue some small business owners over personal guarantees.

Azzurro, which is owned by US asset manager Elliott Management, has now received a settlement that exceeded the outstanding balance of the loans at the time of default.

The exact amount of the financial settlement was not disclosed.

“The settlement, for more than the outstanding balance of the loans at default, validates Funding Circle’s position that the debt had been assigned and payment is due to Azzurro,” Funding Circle said. “As stated at the time of press reports in February, the validity of the loans and personal guarantees has never been in question, and we were confident that Azzurro would succeed in demonstrating its right to bring the claims.”

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