Member Article

£17m funding pot to spark business growth

Two new investment funds worth a total of £17m have been created to help small North East companies.

“The completion of these funds means the North East can boast that it has more money available to invest in small and medium-sized businesses per head of the population than any other English region,” said Mr Morgan-Williams, chairman of North East Regional Investment Fund Limited (NEIF), one of the primary backers of the two new funds.

The new Evolve Mezzanine Fund offers unsecured loans of between £15,000 and £500,000 - together with an equity option - to companies with strong business plans, experienced management teams and a specific financial requirement that cannot be met by traditional sources. It will be managed by Evolve Finance, the specialist debt and mezzanine finance division of Gateshead-based NEL Fund Managers Limited. NEL also manages the £5m NEL Growth Fund, a fast-track funding stream of between £50,000 and £350,000 into companies with high growth potential, with a maximum of £500,000 being invested in any one business. The European Regional Development Fund contributed 45% of the finance of both new funds.

Peter Smith, Head of European Programmes at Government Office for the North East, said: “More than half of the European funding in the North East is dedicated to supporting business. We have pioneered support for access to finance, through cutting edge funds that other regions are looking to replicate.”

Potential investee companies must be based within the North East and have traded for at least 12 months. The Evolve Mezzanine Fund will also support management buy out or buy in transactions. Loans are unsecured and are typically structured to be repaid over a period of up to four years. For more information on NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or call 0845 111 1850.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .