Under pressure from activist investors to increase revenue, Sotheby's has doubled its credit line to back art loans in an effort to secure top consignments and business from the world's wealthiest collectors.

Sotheby’s secured a credit line of more than $1 billion to make such loans from a consortium including General Electric Capital Corp., according to a filing last week. The New York-based auction house previously could borrow as much as $550 million under that line, reports Bloomberg.

“The increased borrowings under our credit facility are driven by the record level of loan portfolio balances,” Jan Prasens, managing director of Sotheby’s Financial Services, told Bloomberg. “Art lending is a growing business for Sotheby’s.”