Earlier this week Lucie Mills, Partner at NorthEdge, attended a roundtable at No10 to discuss Private Equity’s contribution to the UK economy and its role in driving entrepreneurship and growth.
Joining the BVCA (British Private Equity & Venture Capital Association) and representatives from across the Private Equity industry was Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden; Exchequer Secretary Gareth Davies; and No10 Business and Investment Advisor Franck Petitgas.
The core objectives of the roundtable discussion included ensuring the UK remains an attractive place to invest, discussing recent measures on incentivising the allocation of pension funds to private capital in the UK; driving UK and international investment into life sciences, green industries, creative industries, digital technology and advanced manufacturing; and ensuring these industries, alongside the Private Equity industry, have the access to talent required to succeed.
The agenda featured key discussion points including:
Attracting investment to the UK
- Ensuring that the UK remains an attractive place to start and grow businesses through supporting, rewarding and championing entrepreneurship
Pension reforms
- Consolidating the fragmented UK pension market, which in turn will unlock over £1tn of pension capital to be invested back into the UK
- Creating a regulatory environment and increasing transparency to improve knowledge and understanding of private equity and its returns potential for pension fund members, as well as offering more flexibility in pension scheme investments so that the UK can be considered a leading destination and remain competitive
Access to talent and skills
- Reestablishing the UK as a best-in-class destination for businesses to attract and retain global talent within a competitive market
- Considering taxation, regulatory pay and visa schemes so that the UK remains a desirable place for people to live and work
- Continuing to promote education in STEM, data science and other tech related skills, as well as promoting business, enterprise and entrepreneurship at all levels of education
Upon attending the discussion, Lucie said, “At NorthEdge we are very proud to play our part in supporting entrepreneurs to build better businesses in the UK regions. We believe that by unlocking capital from UK pension funds we will be able to continue driving economic growth and positively impacting our communities, alongside delivering strong net returns for UK pension fund members. I am delighted to have been invited by the BVCA to represent both NorthEdge and the Lower-Mid Market in this important discussion, which we hope to continue over the coming months.”
This roundtable serves as another example of NorthEdge using our voice to highlight the impact of regional private equity on the UK economy; the importance of the Lower-Mid Market in the private equity ecosystem; and our passion for backing founders, entrepreneurs and management teams to build better businesses, together.