New faces for equity team

Two new members have joined the equity team.

Ash Chopra, from Leeds, has been appointed as investment director, to assess and complete investments on behalf of the Finance Yorkshire equity fund alongside Craig Hopwood who was appointed earlier this year.

Ash joins the team from Barclays Bank where he worked in the Barclays Business Support team with a portfolio of small and medium sized companies (SMEs).

Ash said: “It is increasingly difficult for SMEs to access finance. Many are genuinely good companies but they may not, for example, have sufficient security to obtain conventional bank finance. They are too risky for banks to loan to so funds such as Finance Yorkshire are a great way to offer additional support.

“Fundamentally we are looking for a good management team with a strong product or service offering in growth sectors.”

Mark Johnson, from Castleford, joins the team on secondment from BDO, the fifth largest international accountancy firm to carry out due diligence on prospective ventures to ensure the team have a full understanding of the financial health of the business prior to investment.

The equity linked investment team invests between £100,000 and £2m through taking equity in the business or agreeing a mezzanine loan.

Helping a range of small and medium sized businesses to meet their funding requirements for growth and development, Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m.

The project is supported financially by the European Union. It has attracted £30million investment from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of Europe’s support for the region’s economic development through the Yorkshire and Humber ERDF Programme, £15million from Yorkshire Forward’s Single Programme, and £45million match funding from the European Investment Bank.

For more information about Finance Yorkshire, please visit www.finance-yorkshire.com or ring 0845 649 0000.

Note: this news article is from Finance Yorkshire’s previous fund. Read more about Finance Yorkshire