Fund managers are being invited to bid to run the debt and equity elements of a new £130m fund for Wales from the British Business Bank.
The bank, which is the economic development bank of the UK Government, said its new Investment Fund for Wales will consist of three elements all with the aim of supporting the growth plans of Welsh SMEs.
Fund managers are expected to be revealed this summer for a small loans funds ranging from £25,000 to £100,000, a larger debt fund (£100,000 to £2m) and an equity fund with the ability to invest per deal up to £5m. The Development Bank of Wales, which is wholly-owned by the Welsh Government, has confirmed it will bid for each elements - although it is unlikely one organisation would be awarded the fund management contracts for all three.
Chief executive of the British Business Bank Louis Taylor said the plan is for the fund to go live this autumn.
Ken Cooper, managing director of venture solutions at the British Business Bank, said: “The new Investment Fund for Wales is designed to increase the supply and diversity of finance available to smaller businesses in Wales.
“Given the geographical spread of Wales’s smaller business population, connecting with entrepreneurs in some of the more rural and hard-to-reach areas will be an important focus of the fund.
“Levels of equity investment and also private debt lending are currently below Wales’s share of the UK’s small business population, so we’ll be working closely with the local finance ecosystem to ensure the fund provides support to innovative, ambitious business owners across the country.”
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Chief executive of the British Business Bank on the new Welsh fund
