LONDON — Barclays Bank has declared itself open for business to lend money against the value of the U.K.'s new production credit, which went into effect Monday.
Steve Allen, relationship director for the media team at Barclays, confirmed the bank already has three "fairly substantial" loans with three intermediary companies, allowing them to utilize the tax credit for an unspecified number of movies.
These companies are understood to include Abacus, the tax credit financing arm of production outfit Zephyr Films, and Prescience Film Finance.
"We are happy to discount the tax credit, either directly to individual producers or to specific funds set up to help producers," Allen said.
Phil Robinson of Abacus confirmed the Barclays deal will allow his company to improve the terms it offers to producers. Before the tax credit legislation was officially ratified, Abacus was typically offering 80% of the value of the tax credit, but that figure now will rise to around 85% or higher.
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