South East Sustainability Loan Fund - Guidance Notes and Application Form

Background informationand Fund requirements

The contract to manage the South East Sustainability Loan Fund (SESLF),part of the ERDF South East England Competitiveness Programme 2007-13 to promote sustainable production and consumption has been awarded to South East Sustainability Limited, an FSE Group company. The Fund provides matching funding to existing sources of publicly funded loan finance for businesses in South East England, i.e. the former South East England Development Agency (SEEDA) region, being:

(i)Loan funds managed by the FSE Group and

(ii)Other publicly funded loan schemes for SMEs in the South East.

The Fundoffers loans of between £20,000 and £200,000 to ‘qualifying enterprises’ and delivers additional growth finance in order to accelerate the development and improve the competitiveness of micro, small and medium sized businesses in the South East that themselves are delivering activities that help to reduce the region’s ecological footprint. The Fund supports companies:

(a)Operating in new and emerging ecologically driven market sectors;

(b)Delivering products or technologies that will contribute to a reduction in the region’s ecological footprint; or

(c)Delivering innovation in other business sectors that result in more resource efficient business practices.

Eligibility Criteria

In order to apply for this Fund, potential applicants must first meet the eligibility criteria of the relevant ‘Primary Loan Fund’ (PLF) and must make an application to the PLF.

Applications cannot be made direct to the SESLF. For the relevant loan funds comprised within the South East Funding Escalator, potential applicants should see the eligibility criteria on the FSE Group website For other publicly funded loan schemes, potential applicants should approach the relevant loan scheme provider. A list of pre-qualified PLFs is provided on the FSE Group website.

Terms and conditions

Any loans approved by the SESLF will be made ona ‘pari-passu’ basis with the respective PLF.Terms and conditions will be identical and the SESLF will require successful applicants to provide any security on the same basis as the PLF.

Application Procedure

Potential applicants should apply to the PLF and indicate they are interested in being considered for the SESLF by completing the questions on the following pages. The form should be signed by those directors signing the PLF application and the personal details section completed by all signatories.

Specific information required by SESLF

The Fund can only offer loans to companies that are Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (incl Micro Enterprises) (SMEs) per the European Commission definition of 6 May 2003 (2003/361/EC), namely:

Category / Headcount / Turnover / or / Balance sheet total
medium-sized / < 250 / ≤ € 50 million / ≤ € 43 million
small / < 50 / ≤ € 10 million / ≤ € 10 million
micro / < 10 / ≤ € 2 million / ≤ € 2 million

By signing this form you confirm the applicant company meets the above definition.

Personal Details / For monitoring purposes subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998
Gender of applicant / Male Female
Ethnic Group of applicant / White British Irish
Black or Black British Caribbean African
Mixed Parentage:
White & Black Caribbean White & Black African White & Asian
Asian/Asian British:
Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese
Other Please state......
All the information given on this form is correct to the best of my/our knowledge
Signed Date
Name (Please print) Position
Signed Date
Name (Please print) Position
Signed Date
Name (Please print) Position
Signed Date
Name (Please print) Position
Personal Details / For monitoring purposes subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998
Gender of applicant / Male Female
Ethnic Group of applicant / White British Irish
Black or Black British Caribbean African
Mixed Parentage:
White & Black Caribbean White & Black African White & Asian
Asian/Asian British:
Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese
Other Please state......
Personal Details / For monitoring purposes subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998
Gender of applicant / Male Female
Ethnic Group of applicant / White British Irish
Black or Black British Caribbean African
Mixed Parentage:
White & Black Caribbean White & Black African White & Asian
Asian/Asian British:
Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese
Other Please state...... ………………………………………………….
Personal Details / For monitoring purposes subject to the requirements of the Data Protection Act 1998
Gender of applicant / Male Female
Ethnic Group of applicant / White British Irish
Black or Black British Caribbean African
Mixed Parentage:
White & Black Caribbean White & Black African White & Asian
Asian/Asian British:
Indian Pakistani Bangladeshi Chinese
Other Please state......

Personal Details

South East Sustainability Limitedmust collate appropriate information for monitoring purposes subject to its duties under the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) which it undertakes to keep strictly confidential and to use only as evidence of compliance with the Company’s obligations under relevant legislation.

Information provided in the Application Form will be reported to The Department for Communities and Local Government(DCLG) on a quarterly basis for the purpose of monitoring companies applying to the SESLF for funding.

ERDF co-financing statement

The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) manages the South East ERDF Competitiveness Programme 2007-13 on behalf of the region. The ERDF has allocated £15.2 million (€23.706) to the South East over the period 2007-13. The total value of the programme is €47.412m (£30.4m) running from 2007 to 2013. The aim of the programme is to promote competitiveness and sustainability to stimulate innovation and encourage efficient business practice whilst reducing the region’s ecological footprint.The SESLF has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and has been selected under the above operational programme.

South East Sustainability Limited

Riverside House

4 Meadows Business Park

Station Approach

Camberley

Surrey

GU17 9AB

Feb 2014