Key rules and eligibility
Key rules
- The SCF investment in a company must not exceed £1 million in one tranche or in multiple rounds.
- The total deal size should not exceed £2 million (this will include any debt component).
- The investment must be at least matched pound for pound by the SCF partner.
- The terms obtained must be pari-passu with the SCF partner.
- Scottish Enterprise cannot hold in aggregate more than 29.9 per cent of the voting rights of a company.
- Public money cannot account for more than 50 per cent of the total risk capital funding in a deal.
In order to be eligible for investment from the Scottish Co-investment Fund, your company must:
- be incorporated;
- have less than 250 employees;
- have net assets less than £16 million;
- be doing a deal which involves the sale of an equity interest;
- be in an approved business sector – restrictions apply to SCF investments in the following sectors:
- dealing in land, commodities, futures, shares, securities and other financial instruments;
- banking, insurance, money lending, debt factoring, hire purchase financing and other financial activities;
- leasing or letting assets on hire;
- providing legal or accountancy services;
- property development;
- farming, forestry or market gardening;
- operating or managing hotels, nursing or residential care homes; and
- retail sectors if there is a trade displacement issue with other local businesses;
- fall within the EU definition of a Small to Medium Enterprise (SME) Read the definition of a SME on the European Commission website; and
- be predominantly located in Scotland – this is primarily measured by considering:
- location of main or head office;
- location of majority of staff;
- country of registration of the operating company; and
- location of the majority of executive directors,