BBI marks record year of investment activity
British Business Investments (BBI) made a record £473m in investments via its delivery partners during the 12 months ending 31 March 2021, bringing the total value of its commitments since inception to more than £3bn.
The wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank has now supported almost 30,000 UK businesses with funding.
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Between March 2020 and March 2021, it made a record number of 18 commitments totalling £473m to new and existing delivery partners. Third parties have invested a further £1.23bn alongside the investment bank, meaning that total funding of more than £1.7bn has been delivered to the UK market this financial year.
“We are pleased to report a strong performance by British Business Investments during 2020/21 and a record year in terms of a number of new commitments and diversification of our portfolio,” said Judith Hartley, chief executive of BBI.
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“We have continued to make commitments throughout the pandemic, as we wanted to help ensure the UK’s smaller businesses could continue to access finance. We are now invested in every nation and region of the UK, and are supporting almost 30,000 small businesses, 85 per cent of which are located outside London.”
BBI has a remit to increase the supply and choice of finance to businesses across the UK. It does this by committing funding through a range of delivery partners. These include peer-to-peer lenders such as Funding Circle and Assetz Capital, and fintech lenders such as ThinCats and Newable.
The BBI also reported a pre-tax profit of £107.4m for the year, up from £35.4m in the previous financial year.
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