Better Capital joins Ireland’s fund for SMEs
BETTER CAPITAL is among the investment firms that have agreed to help the Irish public pension fund in a €850m venture focused on small- to medium-sized enterprises.
The National Pensions Reserve Fund (NPRF) and Better Capital’s 2012 fund will each invest an initial €50m (£40.7m) to spend on overhauling struggling SMEs in Ireland, they said yesterday.
Better Capital will open a Dublin office to manage the fund, which forms part of the NPRF’s push to help Ireland’s smaller firms that were hit hard by the Eurozone’s economic woes.
Carlyle Cardinal Ireland will co-invest and run a fund worth up to €350m to help healthy firms grow, while BlueBay will help fund and manage a €450m pot to provide credit and refinancing to larger SMEs.
“SMEs are the backbone of the domestic economy and we believe that the development of these new financing options will enhance their ability to contribute to economic recovery,” said NPRF chairman Paul Carty yesterday.