Business Growth Fund on the menu at Yorkshire Bank lunch

THE Business Growth Fund is to come under the spotlight at the latest Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance economic lunch held in conjunction with TheBusinessDesk.com.

Tomorrow’s event, hosted by Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance, comes just two weeks after the £2.5bn fund was launched in Birmingham,where it will be based.

The bank’s chief economist Tom Vosa will give an overview of UK and global economic trends at the lunch and acquisition finance area director Ian Howey will give an overview of regional issues in the mid market deals arena.

Guests include key figures from the region’s investor and private equity communities.

The BGF is expected to be one of the hot topics, but other issues which influence the Midlands economy and investment environment are also likely to come under the spotlight, including the emergence of LEPs, the Regional Growth Fund and the impact of world events such as the Japanese tsunami.

Marc Reeves, editor of TheBusinessDesk.com, will chair the lunchtime discussion held at Yorkshire Bank Corporate & Structured Finance at Temple Point in Birmingham.

This is the third in a series of economic lunches which launched in October last year, when the state of manufacturing came under the spotlight, and Mr Vosa warned that some regional companies were slow to take advantage of the exchange rate environment.

In January, however, prospects looked brighter for the region, with more solid signs of a resurgent manufacturing base. Mr Vosa said the West Midlands was well placed to take advantage of any economic growth, but sounded a note of caution about the ability of growing companies to recruit skilled staff.

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