This month, BGF released its new report co-authored by Sir Anthony Seldon and Stephen Welton – From survive to thrive – funding the growth economy to kickstart an investment-led recovery – which called for urgent action to recapitalise 21,000 businesses – the UK’s growth economy companies.
The report warned of serious rising shortfall in equity funding and called for the pensions industry, insurance companies, quoted investment trusts, private clients and the UK government to back an investment-led renewal plan.
BGF and Sir Anthony Seldon have proposed a solution in the form of an overarching £15 billion National Renewal Fund. In a first move, Coutts – the Private Banking arm of NatWest – together with BGF has announced the launch of its fundraising for The UK Enterprise Fund.
The solutions put forward in this report and the ambition to tackle the equity funding gap is in line with stated government objectives – particularly to ‘level up’ the economy by tackling regional disparities, but also to increase national focus on R&D and to give pension holders greater control over their assets.
Recommendations outlined in the report follow interviews with 30 influential figures from the fields of finance, business and government, such as Andy Haldane (chief economist at the Bank of England), Lord Karan Bilimoria (president of the Confederation of British Industry), Sherry Coutu, and Paul Johnson (director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies), among others.
Seven Hills led the media campaign for the launch of the report, securing a Sunday Times national exclusive, followed by a range of broadcast, print, and online coverage – including interviews in Sky News Ian King Live, Daily Telegraph, LBC, Bloomberg Radio, and opinion pieces in Financial Times, City AM and Yorkshire Post.