An assignee is the lender or financial institution that receives a company's accounts receivable as collateral in a receivables-assignment financing arrangement. When a business pledges its receivables to secure a loan, creating assigned accounts receivable, the lending party in that relationship is the assignee, and the borrowing business is the assignor.
What being the assignee actually means
The assignee does not take ownership of the receivables the way a buyer in a factoring deal would; it simply holds a secured legal claim against them, which it can enforce if the borrowing company defaults on the underlying loan. The receivables themselves stay on the borrowing company's own books, and the assignee's rights exist specifically to provide recourse in the event of non-payment, not to take over day-to-day collection in the ordinary course of business.
Where to go for the full explanation
See assigned accounts receivable for a complete explanation of how this financing arrangement works, how it differs from an outright sale of receivables through factoring, and how the loan and the pledge are disclosed in the borrowing company's financial statements.