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Barclays injects £100m into fast-growth technology companies
In a UK first, Barclays is launching a new £100 million fund to help fast- growing technology businesses accelerate to the next level.
The new drive will see the bank backing some of the most innovative UK technology businesses with lending of up to £5m, repayable over three years.
Until now, this type of lending has not been widely available to UK businesses, whereas their US counterparts have been able to grow rapidly through access to debt finance.
Because fast-growing technology firms develop much more rapidly than the 15-year average of traditional businesses, they stand to benefit from new access to debt finance, as an alternative to selling equity. This will also allow leading entrepreneurs to retain control of their company‘s development and concentrate on accelerated growth.
A recent report by Barclays showed that UK technology businesses are expected to grow four times faster than GDP in 2015.
Launching the new fund, Ashok Vaswani, chief executive of Barclays personal and corporate banking, said: ”This new fund offers a welcome boost to
growing UK technology firms, and will provide a catalyst for their development into larger companies. It is part of our plans to deliver the kind of pro-growth financial backing for UK business that US firms already enjoy.
”We identified a significant gap in the traditional way technology businesses were financed, and with this new drive we will be truly able to support businesses right from their inception.
”Entrepreneurs and SMEs are the life blood of the UK economy and the technology sector is an incredible incubator for many of these individuals and businesses.”
Sean Duffy, managing director, Barclays‘ technology, media and telecoms team, said: ”Fast-growth technology companies in the US have long been able to access debt finance early in the life cycle, and some of the most successful US technology firms, including Facebook and Google, have grown their businesses with help from this type of funding.
”We believe it is important for fast- growth technology companies in the UK to be able to access a similar range of financing solutions.”
Blake Morgan strengthens teams with new merger
Blake Morgan, which has offices in Southampton, Oxford, Reading, Cardiff and London, is to further strengthen its teams by merging with a practice in London, Westminster-based firm Piper Smith Watton.
This will take effect on August 1, just over a year after Blake Morgan was created by the merger of Blake Lapthorn and Morgan Cole.
The merger will boost Blake Morgan‘s national presence with the addition of 12 partners, taking the total number of partners to 130, and means the firm has a workforce of around 1,000 staff with an annual turnover of £78 million.
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Piper Smith Watton brings particular additional expertise in the entrepreneurial private client and corporate markets and doubles the size of its real estate and litigation practices in London.
Walter Cha, managing partner of Blake Morgan, said: ”This new merger provides us with the resources to handle larger, more complex work particularly for entrepreneurial private clients, to include commercial real estate and high-end residential property.
”Although the greatest impact of this merger will be felt in London, the extra strength and depth of expertise that it brings to our teams and our clients will be felt throughout the firm.”
THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – SOLENT & SOUTH CENTRAL – JUNE 2015
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