FW Capital and Tees Valley funding unlocks £193m worth of contracts

Since its launch and according to recent figures, the Tees Valley Catalyst Fund has unlocked contracts for local businesses across the region worth more than 10 times the loan value.

Managed by FW Capital, the Tees Valley Catalyst Fund has invested £16.8m, helping firms win £193m of business in total.

The pioneering £10m fund is designed to help companies bid for work and is backed by the government’s Regional Growth Fund.

It provides loans for performance and warranty bonds, as well as advance payment guarantees, which provide a financial guarantee to a client that a supplier will deliver on time and to standard.

FW Capital figures show around 75 per cent of the fund investment to date has helped manufacturing and construction businesses bidding for contracts.

Of this investment, around £9m has been provided to companies delivering renewables, oil and gas, and energy contracts.

Tees Valley Mayor, Ben Houchen, said: “This is a fantastic fund that is helping companies in the Tees Valley win business - helping to build the high growth, high wage, low welfare economy we all want to see.

“Since the launch of the fund there’s been zero defaults, this shows the excellent ability of local companies to deliver contracts on time.”

Now, FW Capital is urging more companies in these industries to come forward to take advantage of the fund, which can help firms successfully tender for lucrative contracts.

One business to benefit is Thornaby-based Process Control Equipment Ltd (PCE), which has recently completed a multi-million euro contract in Spain.

The PCE project, which involved building a new part of a major Spanish oil refinery, was successfully completed six months ago.

FW Capital has long been an investment partner of PCE. In 2014, PCE became the first company to benefit from the fund when it was awarded a performance bond loan worth £1.1m to enable it to secure three significant contracts worth in excess of £10m.

Ben Williamson, PCE’s finance director, concluded: “This was a huge project and it wasn’t straight forward but FW Capital worked with us to help shape the funding to the project requirements.

“The FW Capital team is very pragmatic to work with. They are friendly, approachable, and have a great can-do attitude. We’re very grateful to them for their continued support.”