Top award for business investment firm

Jul 22 2009 by Peter McCusker, The Journal

NORTH East business investors NEL Fund Managers has beaten competition from across the country to be named as the UK’s SME Investor Of The Year at a prestigious industry award.

NEL received the honour in the annual ACQ Finance Magazine Country Awards for Achievement, which are voted for by people working in the venture capital and commercial investment industry, along with a panel of expert judges.

Voters judge each category on the deals and companies that they think have stood out from the crowd in the last 12 months.

NEL Fund Managers provides financial products to small and medium-sized businesses in the region, and has invested in more than 200 regional companies in the last five years through its debt and mezzanine finance division Evolve Finance and its venture capital division NEL Capital.

Both early and late stage capital investments are available from NEL, according to investees’ needs, and an increasing number of technology investments have also been made in recent years as the North East’s knowledge economy has expanded and thrived.

NEL chief executive Barrie Hensby said: “It’s very pleasing to be recognised by our industry peers for the investment work we’ve carried out over the last 12 months, and to achieve national recognition for the wide range of North East companies that are aiming to use our investments to realise their growth and development plans.

“The best reward for us is to be part of these companies’ continuing success, and through this, to help support existing jobs and create new employment opportunities in every part of the region.

“At a time where the availability of investment capital has never been more important, NEL is firmly committed to continuing to support the North East business community, and is actively looking for new investment opportunities in companies with strong management teams and robust business development plans.”

It’s very pleasing to be recognised by our peers for the investment work we’ve carried out.