£120m funding on offer for small businesses from Midlands Engine

The first tranche of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund is open for business as the British Business Bank launches £120million of debt finance.

The British Business Bank has announced the first wave of its £250million Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), with the launch of £120million of SME debt finance, which is now available to businesses across the Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire Local Enterprise Partnership area.

Aimed at eliminating regional imbalances in funding, the British Business Bank is keen to support fast-growth organisations and businesses looking to expand into new markets and boost productivity, supporting job creation.

The MEIF is the result of close collaboration between the British Business Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for Communities and Local Government and 10 Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs) in the East & South East and West Midlands. It brings together new and existing funding from Central Government, the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), British Business Bank and European Investment Bank (EIB).

The £120million fund is composed of two separate lots – £30million of small business loans valued between £25,000 and £150,000, as well as £90million of debt finance worth between £100,000 and £1.5million. The £120million fund is part of a wider £250million commitment, with further funding due to be made available later this Autumn.

For more information on how to access financial support from the fund, visit www.meif.co.uk

About the Midlands Engine Investment Fund

 The Midlands Engine Investment Fund will invest in Debt Finance, Small Business Loans, Proof of Concept and Equity Finance funds, ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.

The MEIF covers the following LEP areas: Black Country, Coventry & Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham & Solihull, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, The Marches, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands; and Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham & Nottinghamshire (D2N2) Greater Lincolnshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, and South East Midlands in the East & South East Midlands.

The project is receiving up to £78,550,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The Department for Communities and Local Government is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

The funds in which Midlands Engine Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in the West Midlands and East & South East Midlands.

The British Business Bank has published the Business Finance Guide (in partnership with the ICAEW, and a further 21 business and finance organisations). The guide, which impartially sets out the range finance options available to businesses and provides links to support available at a regional level, is available at www.thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk/bbb

About the British Business Bank

 The British Business Bank is the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Our remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank programmes are already supporting almost 3.4bn of finance to more than 59,000 smaller businesses, through over 100 finance partners. They are participating in a further £5.8bn finance to small mid-cap businesses (as at end of August  2017).