Mercia to manage new mandates in Northern Powerhouse Fund
Mercia Asset Management has recently been appointed to manage two additional funds under the British Business Bank’s ‘Nations and Regions Investments’ Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II initiative.
The British Business Bank’s Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II has launched today (March 21), a £660m fund aimed at covering the entirety of the North of England.
Since the inception of the initial Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund in 2017, over £445m of direct and private co-sector investment has been injected into 552 businesses, leading to the creation of nearly 4,300 jobs throughout the Yorkshire and Humber region.
With offices in Birmingham and Henley-in-Arden, Mercia is slated to provide debt finance ranging from £100,000 to £2m, alongside equity finance of up to £5m, across Yorkshire and Humber.
Meanwhile, the Business Enterprise Fund (BEF) will offer smaller loans between £25,000 and £100,000.
The firm disclosed this morning that its new mandates for Yorkshire and the Humber encompass £100m in equity investments and £53m in debt finance.
The investment fund will make it easier for smaller businesses to get early-stage financing, providing funds to firms that might struggle to get investment otherwise, and helping to remove obstacles to accessing finance.
It will keep investing in companies in the North West, Yorkshire, the Humber, and Tees Valley. It has now expanded to cover the entire North East as well, allowing businesses across the whole region to access the fund to start, grow, or keep expanding
Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Asset Management, said: “As with last month’s announcement that the group had been selected by the British Business Bank to manage three new mandates totalling £207m, we are delighted that, following an equally competitive selection process, the Group has also now been selected to manage two new Northern Powerhouse II mandates, totalling an additional £153m.
“We recognise and thank the British Business Bank for the trust placed in all of us at Mercia. This is a further strong vote of confidence in our investment track record, which is built on our ability to successfully deploy the capital that is needed to support exciting growth companies through our established regional footprints and networks.
“The combined £360m of new fund mandate awards is anticipated to result in millions of net incremental revenue in our next financial year, supporting our naturally evolving strategic focus of growing our profitable third party fund management operations.”
