Enterprise body to act to help firms access funds

SCOTTISH Enterprise has been told to intervene in bank lending decisions if a high-growth company has been refused finance, it has emerged.

The Scottish Government has asked the development agency to act as a referee and provide further detailed evidence of a firm’s expansion prospects if that business is struggling to access fairly-priced loans and overdrafts.

Its chief executive Lena Wilson has already personally acted as a broker in several instances where companies that have been judged by SE as having strong potential but have fallen foul of the continued lending problems.

The revelation came as the Scottish Government yesterday unveiled its latest economic strategy, which repeated the SNP administration’s ambition to create a low-carbon economy.

Finance minister John Swinney said: “I’ve asked Scottish Enterprise to be more active participants on behalf of the companies that they serve in arguing the case for bank investment in those companies.”

He said it was “perfectly legitimate” for SE to take part in negotiations with banks, where the public sector agency had carried out a detailed assessment of a company’s growth opportunities.

SE works with around 2,000 “account managed” companies, helping them to expand and create further employment opportunities. “We haven’t alighted on these companies accidentally,” Swinney said.

Wilson said SE would be willing to negotiate with the banks over how it can share in some of the risk of lending to a particular company. This could include putting up some public monies in order to leverage private sector finance.

Wilson suggested there was even a case for SE to “train” bank relationship managers so they better understood the background, export and other expansion opportunities offered by some firms.