News: Finance Yorkshire announces investment team for South Yorkshire

The new business growth fund, Finance Yorkshire, has announced the investment teams across Yorkshire and the Humber.

The £90m fund has three investment teams, Seedcorn Finance, Business Loans and Equity Linked Investments. The investment teams appraise the applications from businesses as well as liaising and working with other intermediaries in the market.

Karl Hodson and Ian Howson will cover South Yorkshire as part of Finance Yorkshire's Business Loans team.

Karl Hodson, investment manager, said: "By having regionally-based investment managers, companies can take advantage of funding available on their doorstep.

"The Business Loans fund offers loans to complete financial packages, so it's crucial that we are on the ground and able to easily liaise with both the company and other lenders."

With a team comprising of Ed French, Michael Bakewell and Ashwin Kumaraswamy, the Seedcorn fund offers early stage, knowledge and technology start-up businesses investments of up to £780,000.

Leading the equity team is Craig Hopwood, who will help SMEs to achieve their business expansion plans with equity linked investments from £100k to £2m.

James Newman, Finance Yorkshire chairman, said: "Applying for funding can be a daunting process, especially for small businesses that are only just finding their feet.

"Our investment managers will work closely with businesses throughout the application process, either directly or through an intermediary."

The Board of Finance Yorkshire has also announced the appointment of Alex McWhirter as Acting Chief Executive. Alex is currently Assistant Director of Business at Yorkshire Forward and is being seconded by Yorkshire Forward to Finance Yorkshire for three days a week.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30m investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe's support for the region's economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15m from Yorkshire Forward's Single Programme, and £45m match funding from the European Investment Bank.

Finance Yorkshire website

Images: finance-yorkshire.com