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Am I Eligible?

Small and Medium sized enterprises (SME's) within the European Union definition of an SME (up to 250 employees, €43m turnover).

Loans will be made in support of activity in the Northwest: businesses must be based within the region.

Businesses must be able to demonstrate:

  • good management
  • viable business plan
  • an ability to service the borrowing required
  • an inability to obtain sufficient funding from conventional sources and that the absence of such funding is exposing the business to the risk of failure to achieve its growth potential.

Loans from the fund may not be used to pay down existing borrowings. Applicants, through their business plans, should be able to demonstrate a positive impact on jobs, either through job creation or preservation.

Businesses not generally eligible for loan finance from the fund:

  • Subject to collective insolvency proceedings.
  • Those in commercial property investment
  • Retail businesses
  • Those covered by EC sector restrictions including the production of synthetic fibres, shipbuilding, coal and steel, agriculture, including fisheries but excluding the processing and marketing of such products
  • Those which fall within the definition of a "business in financial difficulty" under the "Community Guidelines on State Aid for Rescuing and Restructuring firms in difficulty" *

* An SME, established for more than 3 years, shall be considered to be an undertaking in difficulty if it fulfils any of the following conditions:

  • in the case of a limited liability company, where more than half of its registered capital has disappeared and more than one quarter of that capital has been lost over the preceding 12 months
  • in the case of a company where at least some members have unlimited liability for the debt of the company, where more than half of its capital as shown in the company accounts has disappeared and more than one quarter of that capital has been lost over the preceding 12 months
  • where it fulfils the criteria under its domestic law for being the subject of collective insolvency proceedings.