• The North West Fund is open and ready to receive applications • The £185m North West Fund is the largest public fund of its kind in the UK • Over £200m of private sector leverage will facilitate funding of around £400m • 14,000 jobs to be created/safeguarded and over £700m GVA expected North West Business Finance Ltd (NWBF) with support from the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA) the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Investment Bank is today (20th December 2010) ready to make investments from The North West Fund. The North West Fund is a new £185m evergreen fund for Northwest businesses (previously known as the Venture Capital and Loan Fund or VCLF) and is one of the largest public sector funds of its kind in Europe and the largest in the UK. Between 2010 and 2015 the Fund is expected to create/safeguard almost 14,000 jobs and improve the economic performance of England's Northwest with an estimated GVA increase of £700m. The North West Fund is the umbrella name for the 6 funds that are now available to Northwest businesses in the form of debt, equity and quasi-equity. These funds are managed by 6 fund managers under contract with NWBF. NWBF oversees the delivery of the Fund, under the European Investment Bank's Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises (JEREMIE) Initiative, in England's Northwest. Initially, £170m of The North West Fund will be allocated to the 6 Fund Managers, The Fund Managers then have a mandate to invest their allocation into the specific product or sector they manage, before 31st December 2015. The £15m remaining will be available for further allocation and investment through to the end of 2015. Such further allocations will be made as investment needs become more apparent. The 6 funds and fund managers are: • Development Capital (£45m) YFM Private Equity • Business Loan (£35m) FW Capital Ltd • Venture Capital (£30m) Enterprise Ventures Ltd • Biomedical (£25m) Spark Impact Ltd • Energy & Environmental (£20m) CT Investment Partners LLP • Digital & Creative (£15m) AXM Venture Capital Ltd The North West Fund is made up of a £92.4m ERDF grant, making it the biggest ERDF project of the 2007-13 programme, and a £92.4m loan from the EIB. In addition to this funding, the 6 Fund Managers appointed, have been targeted with securing over £200m of co-investment capital from a wide range of sources including; finance angels, banks, pension funds, venture capital, private equity investors, and other private funds. It is expected that this initiative will generate total funding in excess of £400m. In total, the fund managers will operate 13 offices across the Northwest and, at peak, are expected to employ 48 (FTE) professional staff based in the region focused on deploying and managing The North West Fund. Further information and application details are at http://www.thenorthwestfund.co.uk/
Original Article: The £185m North West Fund goes live!