22nd February 2018

Midlands Engine Investment Fund launches £100million SME equity fund

Midlands Engine Investment Fund launches £100million SME equity fund

• Secretary of State Sajid Javid announced the launch of three funds providing up to £100 million of equity finance to redress a regional imbalance in SME funding options
• Launch is latest wave of £250million Midlands Engine Investment Fund
• The equity funds follow the £120m Debt and Small Business Loans Funds launched in August 2017
• Builds on over £1bn of funding already being provided by the British Business Bank to growing SMEs across the Midlands

The British Business Bank (BBB) has launched a further wave of its £250million Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) with up to £100million of equity finance to be made available to small businesses across the West, East and South-East Midlands. Working with the region’s ten Local Enterprise Partnerships, fund managers, and the business community, the new funding will broaden the funding options and opportunities available to Midlands businesses.

Rt Hon Sajid Javid MP, Housing Secretary and Ministerial Champion for the Midlands Engine, said:

“The Midlands Engine already boasts over 14 per cent of the UK’s high-growth businesses and its economy is worth more than £230 billion – larger than countries like Denmark.

We want to harness its huge potential and help give small firms across the Midlands that much needed boost to grow their business.

“Ensuring every part of the UK can play to its strengths and spread prosperity is central to our Industrial Strategy, and this fund will not only generate jobs to benefit the entire Midlands but, ultimately, the British economy.”

Patrick Magee, Chief Commercial Officer, British Business Bank, said:

“On Tuesday the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Market report revealed significant regional imbalances in the supply of equity finance across the UK. We believe there is a major opportunity to increase the supply of equity finance in the Midlands, and to enhance the growth ecosystem. The British Business Bank already supplies £1.2 billion of finance to Midlands businesses and the Midlands Engine Investment Fund will provide more in the most needed areas.

“The launch of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund’s equity finance will help to grow the region’s access to funds to support its economic potential and collective talent. I encourage Midlands businesses looking to take the next step in their growth journey to connect with our three Fund Managers to see how equity finance could benefit them.”

Jonathan Taylor, Vice President of the European Investment Bank, said:

“This exciting new initiative will enable companies across the Midlands to expand, create new jobs and harness business opportunities. The European Investment Bank is pleased to support the new Midlands Engine Investment Fund that follows the proven success of regional funds elsewhere in the UK and across Europe to provide new investment that addresses the specific financing needs of local firms.”

Following the launch, the Midlands Engine Investment Fund and its network of Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) are to host 10 events across the West, East and South-East Midlands. The events will provide intermediary advisers with the opportunity to learn more about the funding available, its potential uses and, most importantly, how to apply. For more information on these events visit here https://meif.co.uk/news-and-events/events/

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund will invest in equity finance through appointed Fund Managers:

Midven Ltd will operate a Venture fund focusing on the West Midlands

Foresight Group LLP, will run a similar fund focused on the East & South-East Midlands and Mercia Technologies PLC will run a Proof of Concept and Early Stage Equity fund addressing the whole of the Midlands.

The equity funds will join the £120m of Loan funds launched in August 2017. These are made up of:

Small Business Loans Funds operated in the West Midlands by BCRS Business Loans Ltd and in the East & South East Midlands by Enterprise Loans East Midlands Ltd and a larger Debt Finance fund operated across the whole of the Midlands by Maven Capital Partners UK LLP.

For more information on the funding available, please visit www.meif.co.uk

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, the European Investment Bank and the British Business Bank.

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS 

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund regional event series is as follows:

Silverstone - 26th February 2018, 8am - 10am
Lincoln - 2nd March 2018, 11.30am - 1.30pm
Dudley- 6th March 2018, 8am - 10am
Telford - 7th March 2018, 8am - 10am
Malvern - 8th March 2018, 10.30am - 12.30pm
Coventry - 9th March 2018, 8am - 10am
Derby - 14th March 2018, 8am - 10am
Leicester - 16th March 2018, 8am - 10am
Stoke - 19th March 2018, 9.30am - 11.30am
Birmingham - 20th March 2018, 8am - 10am

To find out how to attend please visit our event page here: https://meif.co.uk/news-and-events/events/

About the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF)

• The Midlands Engine Investment Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, will invest in Debt Finance, Small Business Loans, Proof-of-Concept and Equity Finance funds, ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.
• The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.
• The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.
• The MEIF covers the following LEP areas: Black Country, Coventry & Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham & Solihull, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, The Marches, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands; and Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham & Nottinghamshire (D2N2) Greater Lincolnshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, and South-East Midlands in the East and South-East Midlands.
• The project is receiving up to £78,550,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit gov.uk/european-growth-funding.
• The European Investment Bank is providing £122,500,000 to support the Midlands Engine Investment Fund. This follows backing for the Northern Powerhouse in 2017 and backing for the North East Fund to be announced in the coming weeks. www.eib.org
• The funds in which Midlands Engine Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in, the West Midlands and East & South-East Midlands.
• The British Business Bank has published the Business Finance Guide (in partnership with the ICAEW, and a further 21 business and finance organisations). The guide, which impartially sets out the range finance options available to businesses and provides links to support available at a regional level, is available at thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb

About the British Business Bank

• The British Business Bank is the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Our remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.
• The British Business Bank programmes are already supporting almost 3.4bn of finance to more than 59,000 smaller businesses, through over 100 finance partners. They are participating in a further £5.8bn.
• British Business Bank plc is a limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. As the holding company of the group operating under the trading name of British Business Bank, it is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government which is not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The British Business Bank operates under its own brand name through a number of subsidiaries, one of which is authorised and regulated by the FCA.
• More information, including a legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries, can be found on the British Business Bank website.