YFM to quit North West Fund role

YFM Equity Partners is to relinquish the management of the North West Fund for Development Capital.

The equity investor said the move follows a “restructuring of its North West operations” and that it plans to hand over the management of the NWFDC to a new institution later this year.

The move is the second major change in the last few months at the North West Fund, a multi-million pot of cash for SMEs needing finance, In July Andy Leach, chief executive of North West Business Finance, the company set up to deliver the fund, departed suddenly and was replaced by banking veteran John McGuire.

The North West Fund has made investments in more than 100 companies across a wide range of sectors, from media to biomedical. It is jointly financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.

In a statement YFM Equity Partners said it would continue to manage the existing portfolio of NWFDC investments and the pipeline of potential new investments until North West Business Finance appoints a new fund manager.

David Hall, managing director of YFM Equity Partners said: “We decided to reorganise our North-West business to bring it in line with our new investment activity across the UK.

“This will mean that all our regional teams will now focus on investments of up to £10m from our awarding winning British Smaller Companies Venture Capital Trust Funds as well as from our Buyout and Growth Capital institutional funds.”

The North West Fund for Development Capital is focused on much smaller investments of between £100,000 and £2m.