Two decades of success
Jun 30 2009 by Karen Wilson, The Journal
THE North East’s most active business investor is celebrating after reaching the 20th anniversary of its foundation – and it is already looking forward to the next 20 years.
NEL Fund Managers provide financial products to small and medium-sized businesses based in North East England, and has invested in more than 200 regional companies in the last five years alone.
Originally set up in 1989 to provide unsecured loan funding to regional businesses, NEL became regulated for the conduct of investment business in 1993 and has since gone on to manage ten funds with a combined value of more than £70m.
Hundreds of companies and thousands of jobs in every part of the region have been supported by investments made from these funds by NEL and its two divisions, debt and mezzanine finance division Evolve Finance and venture capital division NEL Capital.
Both early and late-stage capital investments are available from NEL, according to investees’ needs, and an increasing numbers of technology investments have also been made in recent years as the North East’s knowledge economy has expanded and thrived.
Well-known NEL investees that have gone on to achieve national and international success include affiliate marketing firm buy.at, software developers Orchard Information Systems and Non Linear Dynamics, and 3D image analysts ffA, and the recently-launched £3m Evolve Mezzanine Fund is already helping to add new names to the company’s 130-strong portfolio of active investments.
Chief executive Barrie Hensby, who has led the NEL team for the last 18 years, said: “The company was originally formed to fill the ‘equity gap’, providing funds to enable regional businesses to realise commercial ambitions that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to achieve and, 20 years on, we’re continuing to provide this invaluable service to companies right across the North East.
“Throughout our two decades of operation, and regardless of the fluctuating economic conditions we’ve experienced during that time, the one thing that has remained constant is the flow of innovative business ideas coming from across our region.
“Many of the companies that we’ve backed over the years have gone on to turn their business plans into national and international commercial success, and we have a number of companies that are currently in our portfolio that we expect to follow suit.”
NEL’s own evolution has continued in parallel to the needs of the changing regional business scene during the last 20 years, and plans are already being made to help meet future challenges.
Barrie Hensby continued: “We already have plans in development that we believe will further enhance the availability of investment capital to the regional business community in years to come, something which will be especially important in light of the new JEREMIE funds that will become available in the near future.
“We’re proud to have played a part in the success of so many North East companies, but we remain ambitious and are actively looking to add even more names to our portfolio.”
For more information about NEL’s investment criteria, visit www.nel.co.uk or call 0845 111 1850.
