Member Article

North West Fund injects £50m into the region

The North West Fund (NWF) has surpassed the £50m mark in investments in more than 180 companies, spanning two years.

Supported by the European investment Bank and European Regional Development Fund, the NWF has now invested one third of its £155m allocation.

Private sector co-funding has contributed over £36m, bringing the total invested since 2011 to £90m. A pipeline of projects means the fund is on target to invest £34m by the end of the year.

Cliff Maylor, chief executive of North West Business Finance, which manages The North West Fund, said: “We have been impressed by the quality of the businesses that have applied for and received investment. It highlights the business and entrepreneurial talent in the region.

“The recent restructuring of The Development Capital Fund into two funds, The North West Fund for Loans Plus, managed by FW Capital and The North West Fund for Mezzanine, managed by Enterprise Ventures, has allowed us to provide financing options that better suit the needs of the businesses and nurture growth.

“With a fund structure that better reflects the appetite North West businesses have shown for debt, equity and mezzanine finance, 2013 is off to a great start and first quarter investments have already topped £11m.

“The six sub-funds have built strong and mutually beneficial relationships with businesses, intermediaries and other key stakeholders and are now using these partnerships to complete some brilliant investments.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .