The results of bids for Round 4 of the Regional Growth Fund are out today, as 102 projects and programmes will share £506 million pot to stimulate growth and jobs across the UK.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is due to announce this afternoon on a visit to Toyota in Burnaston the companies and projects that have been successful, following the most competitive round of the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) to date.
The successful bids will take a share of a £506 million pot of funding to attract private sector investment to go into projects that it is hoped will create thousands of jobs.
The government wants this £500 million investment to help rebalance the economy by supporting these 102 different projects and programmes from all sectors, small businesses and local partnerships across England.
The projects will help these companies to expand their operations and stimulate private sector growth.
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which administers the RGF says that the different programmes from this round will leverage £2.8 billion of additional private sector investment and create or safeguard 77,000 jobs.
If the four rounds of the RGF to date all leverage the private sector investment the government expects, a total of £15 billion private sector investment will have been raised.
One winner, electronics manufacturer e2v, has been awarded a grant of £2.9m from Round 4, its third successful RGF award.
Earlier this week Business Secretary Vince Cable visited Rofin-Sinar, a laser technology company in Hull to announce £2.4 million in RGF funding for a total of 14 companies through the Humber Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) programme. The different projects will create nearly 200 jobs and help secure a further £10 million of private sector investment.
Vince Cable said: “We have already helped over 2,600 SMEs through RGF programmes and recently announced a further £600 million RGF funding to be available from 2015 so that we can continue to support British business and manufacturing.”
Nicola Walker, head of infrastructure at the CBI, warned that funding approval decisions need to be maintained quickly. She said: “To ensure the smooth running of the Fund it’s crucial that the Government sticks to its commitment of making final offers and completing due diligence within six months.
“We also want to see the bid threshold reduced so that future funding rounds attract more small and medium-sized firms which have so much potential to grow.”
List of bidders with conditional offers by region
North West
• Accelerating Business Growth PLUS (Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council – Programme)
• Bright Future Software Limited
• Unleashing Cumbria’s Potential (Cumbria County Council – Programme)
• Cygnet Group Limited
• EA Technology Limited
• Turning Discovery Science and Knowledge into Jobs and Growth (GM Local Enterprise Partnership – Programme)
• Helical Technology Limited
• Liverpool City Region Small Business Support Fund (Liverpool City Region LEP – Programme)
• N Brown Group Plc (Programme)
• Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics Ltd.
• Patterson & Rothwell Limited
• Redx Pharma Ltd
• Sidcot Investments Limited
• St Helens Jobs and Growth Fund (St Helens Chamber – Programme)
• Tratos Ltd
• Unilever UK Central Resources Limited
• Catalyst for Growth (University of Chester – Programme)
• Vix Technology (UK) Ltd
Yorkshire and Humber
List of bidders with conditional offers
• Beatson Clark Ltd
• Paull Strategic Employment Site : Capturing Siemens Tier 1 Suppliers (East Riding of Yorkshire Council)
• Harrison Spinks Beds Ltd
• The enhanced Business Growth Programme (Leeds City Region LEP – Programme)
• Developing the UK’s Leading Food Manufacturing Cluster in Greater Lincolnshire (North East Lincolnshire Council – Programme)
• Optare Plc
• Really Useful Products Limited
• Unlocking (more) Business Investment (Sheffield Council – Programme)
• Silkstone Finance Limited
• Centre for Innovation in Rail (University of Huddersfield)
• York, North Yorkshire & East Riding Business Grant Programme
West Midlands
List of bidders with conditional offers
• GBS Mezzanine Funding Programme (Birmingham City Council Programme)
• Coventry and Warwickshire Business Finance (Coventry and Warwickshire LEP – Programme)
• The Marches and Worcestershire Redundant Building Grant Programme (Herefordshire Council – Programme)
• Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
• Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
• Jaguar Land Rover Ltd
• King Automotive Systems Ltd
• Malvern Instruments Ltd
• NVC Lighting Ltd
• Robinson Brothers Ltd
• Growing Priority Sectors in the Black Country (Sandwell MBC – Programme)
• Innovative Growth in Stoke on Trent and Staffordshire (Stoke on Trent City Council – Programme)
• Tata Steel UK Ltd
• TRW Automotive – College Road
• Wade Ceramics Limited
• Worcestershire Expansion Fund (Worcestershire County Council – Programme)
North East
List of bidders with conditional offers
• Air Fuel Synthesis Ltd / Crane Services (UK) Ltd
• JDR Cable Systems Limited
• JDR Enterprises Limited
• Molplex Limited
• NET Power Europe
• Tees Valley Innovation and Skills Growth Hub (Stockton Borough Council – Programme)
• Sunderland City Deal Infrastructure Development (Sunderland City Council – Programme)
• Bringing Finance to Businesses in the North East (Sunderland City Council – Programme)
• Thomas Swan & Co. Ltd.
• Tinsley Special Products Limited
South West
List of bidders with conditional offers
• AgustaWestland Limited
• Atlantic Inertial Systems Limited
• Avanti Communications Group plc
• Cooper Tire & Rubber Company Europe Ltd
• Johnson Matthey Fuel Cells Ltd (JMFC)
• Marine Current Turbines Ltd
• GAIN Growth Fund Plus (Plymouth City Council – Programme)
• Trackwise Designs Ltd
• Innovation for Growth Programme (University of the West of England – Programme)
East of England, South East
List of bidders with conditional offers
• Eastern England Agri-Tech Growth Initiative (Cambridgeshire County Council – Programme)
• Coast to Capital City High Growth and Innovation Fund (Coast to Capital LEP – Programme)
• Cummins Power Generation Limited (CPG)
• e2v Technologies (UK) ltd.
• East Sussex Invest (East Sussex County Council – Programme)
• Element Six Limited
• Fianium Limited
• GE Aviation Systems
• Harwell Science and Innovation Campus GP
• SUCCESS – Southeast Urban Coast Creative Enterprise Support Scheme (Hastings Borough Council – Programme)
• Escalate – the Innovation and Growth Fund (Kent County Council – Programme)
• Portsmouth/Southampton (Programme)
• STRUCTeam Ltd
• New Anglia Growing Business Fund (Suffolk County Council – Programme)
• TAG Farnborough Airport Ltd
• The Oxford Trust/Science Oxford
• SPI Lasers UK Ltd
East Midlands
List of bidders with conditional offers
• UK Stem Cell Provision (Anthony Nolan)
• Bifrangi UK Limited
• Chinook Sciences Limited
• “Global Derbyshire” Small Business Support Programme (Derbyshire County Council – Programme)
• Dynex Semiconductor Limited
• Fairline Boats Limited
• Frontier Agriculture Ltd (Programme)
• Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership Accelerating Prosperity Programme (Leicester City Council – Programme)
• Northamptonshire Enterprise Partnership (Programme)
• Oclaro Technology Ltd
• Toyota Motor Manufacturing (UK) Ltd
• The Lincoln Growth Fund (University of Lincoln – Programme)
• VF Northern Europe Limited
Nationwide
List of bidders with conditional offers
• Tooling Loan Fund (Birmingham)
• Community Development Finance Association
• Creative England
• Deutsche Leasing UK Ltd
• Five Arrows Leasing Group Limited (FALG)
• HSBC
• Wave 2 City Deals Growth Hubs
• RBS
