News: Business Growth Fund to support SMEs
The £2.5 billion Business Growth Fund (BGF) has been launched to provide funding for UK SMEs.
It is an independent fund backed by five of the UK;s main banking groups - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, and Standard Chartered - and working in collaboration with the British Bankers' Association.
Aimed at SMES with an annual turnover of around £10m to £100m, they will invest approximately £2m and £10m per business in return for a minimum 10 per cent equity stake and a seat on the board for a BGF director. The fund will provide long-term equity investment for those growing companies which today do not have access to this source of capital.
Launching the fund, Sir Nigel Rudd, chairman of the Business Growth Fund plc said: "I believe the Business Growth Fund offers a real ray of hope to companies that are emerging out of recession. Companies that have the confidence, ambition and ability to seize new opportunities and new markets in the UK and abroad.
"We, at the BGF, are talent spotters for UK plc. Our mission is to find and support the next generation of highly successful UK companies. We are looking for businesses with evidence of a strong track record and demonstrable growth potential."
Vince Cable, business secretary, added: "Alongside new government support for exporters and commitments made by the banks to increase the credit available to businesses of all sizes, this private fund will provide crucial support to the firms generating the employment our economy needs.
"To see the fund ready to invest so quickly is greatly encouraging and I look forward to the first successful firms receiving funding."
Business Growth Fund website
It is an independent fund backed by five of the UK;s main banking groups - Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS, and Standard Chartered - and working in collaboration with the British Bankers' Association.
Aimed at SMES with an annual turnover of around £10m to £100m, they will invest approximately £2m and £10m per business in return for a minimum 10 per cent equity stake and a seat on the board for a BGF director. The fund will provide long-term equity investment for those growing companies which today do not have access to this source of capital.
Launching the fund, Sir Nigel Rudd, chairman of the Business Growth Fund plc said: "I believe the Business Growth Fund offers a real ray of hope to companies that are emerging out of recession. Companies that have the confidence, ambition and ability to seize new opportunities and new markets in the UK and abroad.
"We, at the BGF, are talent spotters for UK plc. Our mission is to find and support the next generation of highly successful UK companies. We are looking for businesses with evidence of a strong track record and demonstrable growth potential."
Vince Cable, business secretary, added: "Alongside new government support for exporters and commitments made by the banks to increase the credit available to businesses of all sizes, this private fund will provide crucial support to the firms generating the employment our economy needs.
"To see the fund ready to invest so quickly is greatly encouraging and I look forward to the first successful firms receiving funding."
Business Growth Fund website
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