NBF selects six managers for new £185m fund

Gail Mwamba
16 June 2010

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Northwest Business Finance (NBF) has selected six UK private equity investors to manage its £184.8m North West Fund, set up to provide funding to small and medium-sized enterprises in the region.

YFM Private Equity, FW Capital and Enterprise Ventures have been selected to manage the evergreen fund, alongside Spark Impact, CT Investment Partners and AXM Venture Capital.

The managers have also been charged with sourcing an additional £200m for co-investment, to bring total funding for the initiative to more than £400m.

North West Fund will provide early-stage SME finance – from proof-of-concept and pre-start up financing, to venture capital and follow-on investments – with emphasis on the biomedical, energy, environmental, digital and creative sectors.

EU structural aid will provide £92.4m of the funding, which will be matched by a debt facility from the European Investment Bank. Initially the managers will receive £170m, with the fund managers given a mandate to invest in their allocated sectors by 2015.