Foot Anstey advises the FSE Group in connection with the South West Investment Fund

By Peter Davison

2 August 2023

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Karl Bradford

Bristol-based law firm Foot Anstey has advised FSE Group in connection with the closing of two investment funds, which will form part of the South West Investment Fund (SWIF).

The firm advised on the closing of SWIF - Equity Area A LP, a £46 million fund, and SWIF - Debt Area A LP, a £23 million fund.

The £200 million South West Investment Fund (SWIF) covers the entire South West region and provides loans from £25,000 to £2 million and equity investment up to £5 million to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The purpose of the South West Investment Fund is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the South West.

The South West Investment Fund will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for South West smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.

The FSE Group was one of four fund managers appointed by the British Business Bank in connection with the management of the SWIF, being appointed to manage both debt and equity for the South of the region.

Karl Bradford (pictured), legal director at Foot Anstey, commented: "The FSE Group has a fantastic track record of managing and deploying funds to support the growth of small and medium sized businesses.

"Being FSE's chosen legal partner in helping it close the two funds was an honour. We are proud to say that we assisted FSE with its appointment under the SWIF to unlock vital investment for businesses across the South West."

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The SWIF is the first in a series of six new Funds being launched by the British Business Bank, the government-owned business development bank.

Dale Huxford, chief financial officer at the FSE Group, commented: “Foot Anstey's legal advice was crucial in enabling us to close the equity and debt funds with Nations and Regions Investments Limited.

"We’d like to thank Karl and the Foot Anstey team for their support and guidance throughout the process and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

By Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country.

An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts.

Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.