£125m plan to aid small firms
Nov 19 2008 by Peter McCusker, The Journal
THE creation of a £125m fund to help hundreds of smaller North East businesses was supported yesterday by One North East.
ONE’s board agreed in principle to invest £19m to kick-start the JEREMIE fund, and gave the go-ahead to seek £43m of European Regional Development Fund investment to add into the same pot.
It is estimated that the JEREMIE fund – Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises initiative – could give 850 small to medium-sized companies access to finance over five years, helping them grow and invest for the future.
The agreement in principle to invest £62m of ONE and European monies into the new venture capital fund allows a team of regional financial experts to open negotiations with the European Investment Bank (EIB) – the aim being to secure match funding of £63m from the EIB.
The cash would create a £125m super fund, the first venture capital fund of its type in England.
EIB representatives are in the region today for talks with experts from North East Finance, NorthStar Equity Investors and One North East.
ONE deputy chief executive Malcolm Page said: “Access to finance has never been more crucial for firms who will face challenging times as the credit crunch bites deeper.
“The JEREMIE fund will allow us to invest in smaller firms, giving them security to consolidate and plan ahead, hopefully to expand and create new jobs in the future.
“We plan to have the fund up and running by the beginning of 2010 and in the meantime are continuing to invest in the suite of already available publicly-backed funds during next year to ensure that firms are able to access finance when they need it.”
Carole Beverley, chief executive of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum, said: “It would be a fantastic development. A super venture capital fund will be a huge boost for entrepreneurs.”
