Dozens of regional firms that secured investments from the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund have been able to use them to bring an additional £26.8m of capital investment into the regional economy.
Research by NEL Fund Managers has revealed that businesses in receipt of finance from the £30m fund have been able to leverage it to win further support for their expansion and job creation plans, which has in turn had a significant impact on their ability to win new contracts and exploit further commercial opportunities.
NEL made 146 investments North East Growth Fund between 2010 and 2017 in growing firms right around the region, with an average deal value of around £205,000.
Twenty-nine of these investee firms secured at least one further follow-up Growth Fund investment from NEL after their first capital injections helped them successfully implement business development plans.
Over £25m in financial returns from Growth Fund investments have already been received by NEL, and the fund is on target to generate a healthy return on investment over its lifespan, which will be reinvested into North East businesses.
The Growth Fund was a general investment fund aimed at businesses at a development and growth stage based anywhere in the North East, and was set up with the mission of creating 1,500 new jobs in the region, as well as helping to safeguard a further 1,300 jobs.
NEL is now responsible for two of the five funds that make up the new £120m North East Fund Supported By The European Regional Development Fund – the £9m North East Small Loan Fund and the £18m North East Growth Capital Fund.
Dr Yvonne Gale, chief executive at NEL Fund Managers, says: “Our investments are designed to have a tangible impact on both the businesses with which we work and the wider regional economy.
“Helping these firms leverage their ideas and resources as far as possible, and so create further sustainable employment, supply chain spending and commercial success, is very much part of that process.
“A ready supply of investment capital is crucial to the long-term well-being of any economy, and the demonstrable wider impact that this research highlights reflects well on the quality of the regional management teams and business plans that we’ve supported.
“Our continuing mission is to help more ambitious companies realise even more of their potential by providing them with the investment capital they require to take their next steps forward.”
For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or contact the investment team on 0345 369 7007.
