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Foresight Group LLP (“Foresight”) is pleased to announce the opening of its fifth regional UK office, located in historic George Street in Edinburgh.

Opening its Edinburgh office demonstrates Foresight’s continued commitment to supporting regional businesses and draws on its reputation as one of the most active investors in the UK, supporting small companies to grow and increase local employment, while generating market-leading returns for investors.

Based on this reputation, earlier in 2019 the Scottish Government announced the appointment of Foresight as one of the equity fund managers to the Scottish Growth Scheme, a £500 million package of financial support for Scottish businesses. Foresight has been allocated £20 million, creating the Foresight Scottish Growth Fund, a Fund offering equity investments of up to £2 million in rounds of up to £10 million, to growing SMEs throughout Scotland, often co-investing with likeminded investment managers and other Foresight funds.

To support the deployment of the Fund, Foresight has established a local investment team based in its new George Street office. Dan Halliday has joined as a Senior Investment Manager from Rcapital where he provided strategic, financial and operational support to portfolio companies, predominantly in Scotland.  As a former Director of a high growth scale up, Dan understands the challenges confronting ambitious entrepreneurs and is well-placed to support them alongside the investment that Foresight can provide. Working alongside Dan is Graeme McKinstry, Investment Manager, who brings with him a strong network and a deep understanding of the investment space in Scotland having previously worked in a similar role at Par Equity where he focused on early stage venture capital investments.  Graeme and Dan are supported by Chris Wardle, Director at Foresight, and 23 other investment professionals across Foresight’s offices around the UK.

Foresight has been investing in small businesses across the UK for more than 35 years, with a strong track record and guided by a well-established set of responsible investment principles.  It is amongst the most active investors in the UK, having made more than 30 investments over the last 12 months and with a portfolio of more than 90 companies. Its growing private equity team of 26 investment professionals now manages some £700 million from offices throughout the UK.

Commenting on the new opening, Russell Healey, Head of Foresight Private Equity, said: “We are delighted that Dan and Graeme have chosen to join our expanding Private Equity team.  The award of  the £20 million Foresight Scottish Growth Fund mandate and the opening of our office in Edinburgh has been further validation of our regional investment strategy.  We now have a number of institutional funds under management which, alongside our Venture Capital Trusts and Enterprise Investment Schemes, offer attractive and flexible funding solutions for UK SMEs looking for development finance or business owners looking to exit.”

Dan Halliday, Senior Investment Manager at Foresight, added: “It’s great to be part of the dynamic and growing team at Foresight and we look forward to hearing from the Scottish business community about opportunities across the region which can be supported by the Foresight Scottish Growth Fund.”

You can learn more about the Fund here.