(29 May 2015 – Britain) LDC, the private equity division of Lloyds Banking Group, has announced plans to increase its investment in the UK’s mid-sized companies.
The firm has pledged £1.2 billion (A$2.3 billion) of capital over the next three years to help accelerate growth amongst Britain’s so-called Mittelstandt.
Over the past three years, LDC invested £930million in more than 50 businesses, as well as providing follow-on capital to support their acquisitions in the United Kingdom and overseas.
Mid-sized businesses currently represent just 0.5 percent of all businesses in the UK but contribute around one fifth of employment and turnover.
Only 17 percent generate revenues outside of the European Union, much lower than similar sized western economies.
LDC said its plans were designed to help more management teams access the capital, strategic guidance and operational support needed to achieve scale both domestically and internationally, and become the global businesses of the next decade.
Chris Hurley, Joint chief executive of LDC, said: “Mid-sized businesses are vital to the UK economy, and our core aim is we want to help them grow more quickly.
“Private equity investment is a powerful catalyst.
“Not only does it provide the capital to fund investment, it brings the market-leading strategic and operational expertise of our teams and non-executive network to help management teams overcome the barriers to growth and unlock the business’ potential.
“This takes hard work and partnership, but over the last 30 years, we’ve been able to prove that time and time again, supporting management teams to create the jobs, wealth and exports we need to help the UK to prosper.”
The firm said it expected its investment to be balanced across the UK regions and core sectors.
“There are thriving regional economies right across the UK and hundreds of companies with the potential to be world-class,” Hurley said.
“We’re determined to play a part in accelerating growth for those companies with the ambition to become true market-leaders.”