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British Business Investments commits £50m to fund targeting North and Midlands based businesses

Press release 04 February 2020

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’) at first close, with the fund targeting a final close of £300m later this year.

As with 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.

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.

Catherine Lewis La Torre CEO of British Business Investments

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.

Gary Davison Partner at TDC

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

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Business Investments

British Business Investments is the trading name of British Business Investments Ltd, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. It forms part of the British Business Bank’s commercial arm.

British Business Investments aims to earn a commercial return by investing – through finance providers – in smaller businesses and small mid-caps, pursuing investments on a fully commercial basis without receiving any economic advantage from the government. Find out more at bbinv.co.uk.

British Business Bank plc and its subsidiary entities are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. Neither British Business Bank nor its principal operating subsidiaries are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

The investment from British Business Investments into Tosca Debt Capital (TDC) Fund III does not amount to any endorsement or warranty from British Business Investments, the British Business Bank PLC, or the government of the UK.

About TDC

Tosca Debt Capital (TDC) is a regional debt fund with a focus on supporting the growth of established SMEs. Its debt capital supports regional markets, particularly the Northern Powerhouse, which has long been underserviced by traditional lending.

Its experienced team bring unrivalled knowledge of the debt market, with all decision making, underwriting and portfolio management taking place in its Manchester base.

TDC’s influence stretches beyond the capital it invests, with it building several partnerships with like-minded social organisations across the Northern Powerhouse, which draw upon the team’s unique experience to drive growth, and also sees TDC give back to the communities within which it operates.

TDC’s mission is to be a sustainable, committed regional SME lender that supports a growing investment portfolio through an experienced and relationship-driven investment team.