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Scottish Loan Fund awards
30/07/2012
Four Scottish companies are benefiting from five million pounds of funding from the Scottish Loan Fund, with the option to draw down nine million pounds.
Details of the significant investments have been announced as Finance Secretary John Swinney visited one of the recipients, Red Spider, in Aberdeen today.
The company, which manufactures and supplies a range of downhole tools for the oil and gas industry, will use the loan to help fully commercialise its latest product as well as strengthen existing technology.
Mr Swinney toured the premises at Red Spider and discussed the opportunities that the investment will bring for the company, especially in terms of their growth strategy.
Improving access to finance to support growth and investment is a key part of the Government Economic Strategy. The SLF, which is managed by Maven Capital Partners (Maven), offers finance of between £250,000 and £5 million to businesses which demonstrate growth or the intention to grow and exporting businesses.
The SLF has more than £113 million of resources - £58 million of private sector and £55 million of public sector investment - and is a product of the Scottish Investment Bank which is a division of Scottish Enterprise.
The other companies being awarded loans are Rovop Ltd, Booth Welsh Automation and a further energy services business in the North East.
Mr Swinney said:
"Scotland is the most competitive place in the UK to do business and The Scottish Government is working with our enterprise agencies to retain that position.
"Securing affordable finance remains a challenge for some firms and we are addressing this by providing the environment that will allow our small and medium sized businesses to unlock new investment.
"The Loan Fund is an excellent example of this and I'm encouraged to see that an additional four businesses are benefiting from the service. We will continue to support these innovative, high growth companies as part of our drive to build sustainable economic growth for Scotland.
"The Scottish Loan Fund is allowing Red Spider to react to the increasingly optimistic market conditions in the oil and gas sector. It is giving the company access to increased funding when it is required and I know Red Spider can capitalise on this for a profitable future."
Jim McFarlane, managing director at Scottish Enterprise, said:
"We want more companies across Scotland who boast growth potential to be ambitious for the future and access finance to deliver business growth.
"These four latest deals for the Scottish Loan Fund represent exactly the kind of 'can do' culture needed to support economic recovery in Scotland and through the Scottish Loan Fund and our team of financial readiness experts in the Scottish Investment Bank, we would like to work with more businesses to help them access finance to grow."
Andrew Craig, Partner at Maven, said:
"We are encouraged by the quality of inquiries we continue to receive for the Scottish Loan Fund and Booth Welsh, Red Spider and ROVOP are the type of businesses for which the SLF was established, with innovative product offerings, strong growth strategies and ambitious management teams which will help contribute to their success.
"We have been very impressed by the management team of each business and believe that they can now move forward with confidence in delivering their growth plans."
Steve Nicol, chief executive officer at Red Spider said:
"Red Spider has invested heavily in research and development to continue expanding the Remote Open Close Technology product range. The company is now much more focused on its international growth strategy allowing the technology to achieve its potential.
"The Scottish Loan Fund will help to ensure we meet growing market demand for the products. This type of funding is highly beneficial to finance small high growth technology companies in need of working capital. Banks have not been in a position recently to lend the funds that are needed by the industry, which is why Red Spider took the initiative to apply for funding from this alternative route."