Further £3m for North East investors' pot

A North East investment house has secured a further £3m capital to grow regional businesses.

NEL Fund Managers have added £3m to the Finance for Business North East Growth Fund and raised the ceiling they can invest to in one deal from £400,000 to £750,000.

The additional funding has been awarded by North East Finance who have overall responsibility for the £125m Finance for Business North East initiative.

NEL has so far invested £12m in 58 businesses using the Growth Fund since its launch in spring 2010.

Barrie Hensby, chief executive at NEL, said: “Securing this additional capital and increasing the amount we can invest in an individual deal opens up significant new opportunities for both ourselves and the companies with which we’re working.

“It’s also a demonstration of the strong track record that theNEL team has built over the first three years of the Growth Fund, which adds to our previous 20 years’ experience in the regional business investment market, and pleasingly, investment performance so far is very good, which reflects on the quality of the businesses in which we’ve invested to date.

“Since its inception in 2010, interest in and demand for Growth Fund investments has remained consistently strong, and there’s every indication that this demand for the higher investment levels that we can now provide will be maintained and enhanced.

“Strong business ideas and commercial ambition remain prevalent in the north east economy, even in the most difficult times, and we’re confident that we’ll now be able to encourage even more business to take a look at what the Growth Fund could offer them.”

NEL have a number of applications at different stages of the investment assessment process and is now looking to expand that number.

The Growth Fund is a general investment fund that is aimed at businesses at a development and growth stage that are based anywhere in the north east, and was set up with a view to creating 1,500 new jobs in the region, as well as helping to safeguard a further 1,300 jobs.

Andrew Mitchell, chief executive at North East Finance, added: “Through their strong deal flow, NEL have demonstrated the increasing business confidence in this region, and we believe that the additional funding will help them build on current success.”