Press Release: Commission approves Regional Venture Capital Funds for England

On 6 June 2001 the European Commission adopted its first decision based on the new Communication on risk capital and state aid, by approving the Regional Venture Capital Funds which the UK Government intends to set up in each of the English regions. The purpose of the scheme is to fill the equity gap for small and medium-sized enterprises in need of relatively small amounts of funding. The Government will establish the funds together with private investors, who will benefit from better terms. The Commission decided that the state aid involved was compatible with the common market, and thereby closed the state aid investigation it had initiated on 18 October 2000.