UKSE finance boost

Apr 15 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette

NEW AND growing businesses finding it difficult to get access to finance are to get additional help from UK Steel Enterprise.

The Corus subsidiary that backs businesses in steel areas with tailored finance packages and managed business premises has announced a substantial increase to its lending limits, raising the cap from £400,000 to £750,000.

UKSE has made more than £60m of risk capital available to UK businesses over the past 30 years to support start-ups, expansions and management buy-outs.

“Our tailored finance packages include unsecured loans, secured loans and share capital packages, along with the introduction of more flexible mezzanine funding,” said regional manager Simon Hamilton, pictured.

“In recent years we have found that we are being approached by businesses and their advisers asking us to fund larger and more complex investment deals.”

“Securing the right type of finance delivered at the right time is crucial to a company’s development,” says Mr Hamilton, “but smaller businesses often find it a challenge because of their size and risk profile. We will now be able to target larger deals and increase the number of equity deals.”