Rosebud launches coronavirus Rebound fund

A new £2.25m fund has been created to help Lancashire businesses to implement their growth plans following the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Rosebud Rebound has been created by Lancashire County Council and will be managed by GC Business Finance. It will offer loans of between £10,000 and £300,000 for businesses in Lancashire across all sectors.

The new fund sits as part of the £11.25m Rosebud Fund, which has been providing financial support to the region’s SMEs for more than 30 years. In the last 12 months alone, the fund has provided more than £2m to 16 businesses across Lancashire, creating more than 100 jobs as a result.

Now, with the government-backed loan schemes drawing to a close, Rosebud Rebound Fund has streamlined its applications and approvals process to speed up the drawdown of capital on its loans up to £50,000. For larger loans, the Fund is taking a more flexible approach to deal structures, tailoring bespoke repayment profiles to fit the needs of the individual businesses and their cash flow.

Matt Robinson, fund manager at Rosebud, said: "Short-term access to cash has been a key consideration for SMEs across the UK, and lenders have stepped up to come up with innovative solutions to get funding to where it is needed quickly.

“We remain very much open for business, and we look forward to working closely with entrepreneurs to help the local economy rebound.”

County Councillor Michael Green, cabinet member for economic development, environment and planning at Lancashire County Council, said: "As we have seen, there have been a multitude of challenges facing Lancashire companies as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. One of these has been accessing the growth capital necessary to put them back on track for their scale-up trajectory, along with supporting new and emerging companies and industries.

"The pandemic has highlighted the further need for both the public and private sector to come together. Lancashire County Council, along with a host of our partners, continue to champion and drive not only our economic development recovery, but also invest in growth opportunities. It is therefore our collective responsibility to support these companies and assist them to reach their potential, despite ongoing uncertainty."