Earlier this year Maven Capital Partners won a contract to manage a new £38m equity finance fund in the South West of England.
As part of the British Business Bank’s new £200m investment fund for the region, Maven Equity Finance fund will be part of the South West Investment Fund (SWIF) helping to accelerate grown in the region and support local SMEs.
Luke Matthews, investment director at Maven, told BusinessLive: "Inflation, the level of interest rates, and the general fragility of the economy have impacted on banks' willingness to lend. The South West is certainly no exception, as the volume and value of CBILS, BBLS and RLS loans have decreased more here than the national average.
"However, private equity has not followed the same trend and the South West is one of the only regions in the 海角视频 to see an increase in PE deals in 2022. The BBB’s recent launch of the £200m South West Investment Fund (SWIF) will build on this success by increasing the availability of PE finance."
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The SWIF will provide funding to small and medium sized businesses across the whole of the South West region, covering Bristol, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset and Wiltshire.
The bank believes that this funding, which is part of £1.6bn supplied to the bank from the government, will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for new and growing smaller businesses for various purposes, such as expansion, product or service innovation and new processes, skills or capital equipment.
Chief executive of British Business Bank, Louis Taylor, told BusinessLive that because of the success of the bank’s three previous funds, including the Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Investment Fund, the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak agreed it “should get another £1.6bn to set up the second generation of nations of regions investment funds”.
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Mr Matthews explained: "There has long been a shortage of ready financing for both earlier stage and more established businesses in the South West; SWIF will help bridge this gap and mitigate the recent decline in debt funding. Maven manages the £38m equity fund (SWIF-Maven Equity Finance) for the Bath and North East Somerset, Bristol, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire region, and can provide investment of up to £5m to promising companies across a variety of sectors."
Maven opened its Bristol office in 2017, with recent investments including a £3m funding of Bud Systems, a Bristol-based SaaS firm. The Leicester-headquarter firm has seen success in the Midlands after managing the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF) since 2017, having provided over £80m of investment to over 150 businesses in the Midlands, creating over 700 jobs.
Mr Matthews added: "EY recently forecast that the South West will be the third-fastest growing region in the 海角视频 between 2024 and 2026, driven by growth in the science, media, and tourism sectors. The city of Bristol is outperforming other 海角视频 urban centres – and will act as an economic engine for the wider region, with Private Equity well-placed to help fuel this growth."
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