£125m fund is great for the region

Jan 26 2010 by Neil Warwick, The Journal

FINANCE for Business North East, the new £125m umbrella fund for the region which is part of the European JEREMIE initiative, was officially launched last Friday.

Four hundred people gathered at Ramside Hall for the official launch, demonstrating to guests from the European Commission and the European Investment Bank a level of unity and commitment which they will have not seen in many other regions of Europe.

One North East is to be greatly congratulated both for the huge amount of complex work that has gone into creating the fund and also for the success of the launch event.

It is important to recognise that this offers an opportunity of sustainable investment funding potentially for decades for the region.

Another aspect that is important is the concept of the continuum of finance. It is well established that to be able to bounce out of the recession this region will need a strong SME sector. In order to sustain growth in the SME sector there is a need for finance. However, most advisers will tell you that successful SMEs will need finance several times during their growth and in different formats of finance.

Hence the concept of the continuum of finance where finance can start pre-trading with proof of concept funding to launch an idea, and then move through smaller loans, through mezzanine funding to business angel and equity funding, and all the way up to syndicated debt and equity funding.

With Finance for Business North East there is every stage of funding an SME would require at each stage of its growth. Coupled with the evergreen concept that the fund returns will be reinvested for future SMEs, this is huge news for the region and its importance cannot be underestimated.

For further information on this fund, go to www.northeastfinance.org  or contact your business adviser. There will also be an explanatory event run by Service Network on February 3 at the Copthorne Hotel and more information about this event can be found on Service Network’s website at www.service-network.co.uk

For more information, contact Neil Warwick at neil.warwick@dickinson-dees.com  or on 0191 279 9375.