One of the UK’s largest regional fund managers has opened an office in Bristol to provide finance to small and medium-sized business through the British Business Bank’s new £200m South West Investment Fund.
FW Capital will manage the debt finance fund for the north of the region, providing commercial loans of £100,000 to £2m to businesses in Bristol and across the West of England.
As reported by Bristol Business News, the South West Investment Fund (SWIF) was launched earlier this month by the British Business Bank. It aims to foster growth and prosperity for SME businesses across the South West.
FW Capital has a strong track record of providing flexible finance to dynamic businesses in the North of England across various funds, including delivering ore than £155m of funds to growing businesses from the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.
FW Capital’s Bristol team, which will be based in the city centre at Broad Quay House, will be led by fund manager David Goodall.
Former Barclays head of mid-corporate banking in the South West, David, pictured, below right, with FW Capital fund director Gary Guest, has more than 38 years’ experience working on the business, commercial and corporate banking side.
He has worked across a variety of roles in his career at Barclays and NatWest spanning relationship management, credit, debt structuring, and business development.
FW Capital’s South West team will be looking to use the fund to increase the supply and diversity of finance for ambitious businesses for various purposes, such as expansion, product or service innovation, new processes, skills, capital equipment and the transition to net zero.
Gary Guest said the South West was home to some of the UK’s most ambitious and innovative businesses.
“We’re looking forward to supporting local entrepreneurs and playing a key role in the region’s future success story through the provision of funding from SWIF,” he added.
“The FW Capital team is focused on making finance accessible to growing businesses and we’re excited to bring our expertise to help South West businesses thrive.”
David Goodall said it was great to have the opportunity to establish FW Capital’s office in Bristol, while it also had desk space across the region to give it a presence and visibility across the area’s communities.
“SWIF has a real purpose. That is to support good businesses that may not be able to obtain finance through usual channels,” he added.
“The aim is to stimulate growth across the region and to help businesses realise their potential.
“To be able to support this ambition in the area that I have lived and worked in for my whole life is a real privilege.”
SWIF covers the entire South West region and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium-sized businesses start up, scale up or stay ahead.
Four separate fund managers have been appointed to manage the fund across the region, including leading private equity and investment firm Maven, which will manage equity funding in Bristol and across the north of the region. FW Capital also has offices in Billingham (Tees Valley), Birmingham, Cumbria, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Preston.
