British Business Investments commits £50m for Northern Powerhouse businesses

British Business Investments, a commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank, has announced a commitment of £50m to Tosca Debt Capital’s (TDC) third fund (‘Fund III’), which is targeting a final close of £300m later this year.

As with Manchester-based TDC’s previous two funds, Fund III will continue to focus on funding regional businesses across a range of sectors, with a focus on those located within the Northern Powerhouse.

Catherine Lewis La Torre, chief executive of British Business Investments, said: “This commitment to TDC supports British Business Investments’ objective to tackle regional imbalances in access to finance for small businesses, with this third fund continuing to provide finance to UK smaller businesses, particularly across the North and the Midlands.”

Gary Davison, partner at TDC, said: “We are delighted to have received this level of commitment from British Business Investments, which demonstrates their support for our strategy and endorses our performance to date.

“Investment of this scale allows us to continue on our journey providing much-needed capital to regional businesses, allowing them to reach their full potential.”

TDC is a regional SME-focused debt fund. To date, it has completed more than 25 investments and deployed in excess of £300m.