Enterprise Capital Funds: Reviving a forgotten asset class

EQUITIES

Introduced in 2006 by the UK Government, following the extensive Bridging the Finance Gap consultation paper, ECFs are designed to tackle the equity gap by improving access to development capital

The equity gap exists for many reasons: the maturity of private equity as an asset class, the focus on large transactions and the retrenchment of the banks, or, more simply put, the inability for small businesses to find money to grow. Over the last decade there has been a continual upscaling in the global private equity market as larger houses abandon traditional venture capital territory to claim more lucrative slices of the cake. 3i’s evolution is prime example of how this gaping divide has left little in the way of growth finance provision. In 1998 3i invested an average of £1.5m ...