A team of Bristol advisers has helped Cornish nursery group Happy Days secure £8m funding to develop up to 10 new nurseries over the next three years. Accountancy firms Smith & Williamson and BDO and law firm Foot Anstey advised on the deal with the funding coming from Santander...
Lawyers from the Bristol office of international legal practice Osborne Clarke have helped on the €22.5m (£19.8m) refinancing of a portfolio of six UK solar farms. In the deal Aberdeen Standard Investments provided a long-term, 18.5-year debt financing for Pensions Infrastructure Platform (PiP) – the specialist manager established to...
Bristol’s economy could benefit from aspects of the government’s long-awaited Industrial Strategy, announced this week, three key figures in the city’s business community have said. But there was also disappointment at the lack of detail in some of initiatives and a need for more engagement with the business community...
Bristol advisers from law firm Burges Salmon and wealth management and broking corporate firm WHIreland have advised FB Investors on its recommended partial cash offer for Devon-based property group Sutton Harbour. The offer from FB Investors values Sutton Harbour, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market,...
The UK’s first ‘angel hub’ to support and encourage early stage investors has been launched in Bristol as one of a series of initiatives aimed at making it the country’s ‘scale-up’ capital. The opening of the hub, based at Bristol’s Engine Shed innovation centre and backed by the UK...
Senior lecturer in economics at UWE Bristol, Dr Jo Michell, believes the Chancellor offered little of substance in a Budget to forget. “It is unlikely that Chancellor Phillip Hammond was looking forward to his Budget speech. He would have seen the latest economic forecasts from the independent Office for...
Budget measures affecting the housing market, business rate reform, infrastructure and city development gave the region’s property sector plenty of food for thought – with many commentators saying the Chancellor could have done much more. David Westgate, chief executive of Keynsham-based estate agency and property group Andrews, welcomed the...
Ellen Green, managing director of Bristol-based Blue Badge Co, which makes design-led independent lifestyle products and travel aids, said the Chancellor could have offered more support to small businesses. “While the Chancellor announced some measures designed to please small businesses, such as holding the VAT threshold at £85,000, there...
Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees welcomed Budget measures supporting investment in infrastructure and housebuilding but warned that more funding is needed to support the continued economic growth of cities and tackle issues faced by their communities. He said the £15.3bn for housebuilding, particularly a further £2.7bn expansion of the...
Chancellor Philip Hammond’s support for the tech sector – a vital part of Bristol’s economy – and his commitment to devolve more funding for infrastructure and skills to the West of England in Wednesday’s Budget have been welcomed by business figures across the city. However, there was criticism that...
Chancellor Philip Hammond pledged more than £80m to invest in new transport infrastructure across the West of England in the Budget. The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) said it has been told it will receive the funding for schemes to improve connectivity, reduce congestion and encourage new technology...
Philip Hammond was a “cautious Chancellor doing his best in a tight spot” in the Budget, according to Phil Smith, managing director of Business West – the region’s largest business organisation which runs Bristol Chamber of Commerce and the Bristol Initiative. He described Mr Hammond as playing a “weak...
CBI director-general Carolyn Fairbairn described it as a Budget that balanced support for people on squeezed incomes with vital action to help grow the UK out of austerity. But delivery will be everything. “Against a sombre economic backdrop, the Chancellor gripped the steering wheel on the UK economy. Action...
