Mercia Technologies wins contract to manage Northern Powerhouse funds

Investment company Mercia Technologies PLC has won two contracts to manage funds associated with the UK government’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ scheme.

Mercia said it won the contracts to manage a GBP57.5 million equity fund and a GBP51.0 million debt fund under the control of the state-owned British Business Bank.

Mercia will deploy the funds via its North of England offices, concentrating on small businesses in Yorkshire, the Humber and Tee Valley regions. The funds bring Mercia’s third-party funds under management up by nearly 50% to over GBP336.5 million.

Dr Mark Payton, CEO of Mercia Technologies PLC, said:

 “We are delighted that, in a highly competitive field, the Group has been selected to manage two Northern Powerhouse Investment Funds. The new funds are strongly aligned with Mercia’s ‘Complete Capital Solution’ and our strategic aim to invest in the UK’s underserved regions, supporting the next generation of businesses with high growth potential, where we are already very active.

 These two new funds will play a leading role in the development of innovative small businesses located in the North of England. The Group is well placed to manage these new mandates having already delivered several notable successes for similar public and private funds, including Blue Prism Group PLC, Optibiotix Health PLC, Xeros Technology Group plc and Concepta PLC. We are looking forward to working with the BBB on the successful delivery of these new mandates over the coming years.

Mercia’s strategy is to create value for its shareholders and investment clients by finding and funding innovative businesses in the UK regions, initially by investing the third party funds and subsequently by taking direct stakes in ‘Emerging Stars’ as they successfully scale up. These two new funds will further strengthen Mercia’s ability to generate attractive returns for both managed fund investors and shareholders.”  

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union, attracting investment from the European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020, and the European Investment Bank.