Council backs stalled housing with cash

A council is pumping £770,000 into a series of stalled developments which can now deliver more than 200 new homes and 380 jobs.

Walsall Council is using cash from the New Homes Bonus to issue loans and grants to four construction companies on five sites with a combined value of £20 million.
Developers had to satisfy a range of criteria and also have part-built developments or schemes with planning permission which had not yet begun, before they could get the cash.
The loans will be repaid by the developers and reinvested in other schemes to help create new jobs and homes.
Adrian Andrew, Walsall Council member for regeneration,  said: ‘I am proud and delighted to be able to announce a financial package of almost £800,000 that will help more than 200 homes get built.
‘This doesn’t just mean new homes taking shape. This is also much-needed jobs being created and fresh investment being unlocked.
‘Around 300 people could be working on the construction schemes. A further 80 jobs will be created in the care and support sector through the development of these sites.
‘All this means we’ll help safeguard jobs and create new ones. It’s a key priority for us to help create and safeguard private sector jobs and this does just that.
‘Walsall is yet again bucking the national trend and shows that we are open for business as a borough.
‘I am delighted that the government is following in our footsteps with a similar scheme called Getting Britain Building.’

Schemes getting cash

• Midland Properties will receive £245,000 loans to help resume building work at the former Field Road industrial estate in Bloxwich to create 18 homes for sale and rent as well as to help build 11 rental properties at the former Chamberlain & Hill site in Reeves Street, Bloxwich
• Stanley Developments are set to receive a £175,000 grant to help work start on 85 private and affordable older person extra care homes for rent or sale at Bentley Road North in Bentley.
• Jessup Brothers Ltd are to receive a £175,000 grant to resume work on the part built Walsall Waterfront development to create 82 private and affordable flats.
• BT Felton and Sons are set to receive a £175,000 loan to build 12 homes for private sale in Romney Way, Pheasey, Great Barr. 

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Heverest.ru Gets a New Round of Investment

MOSCOW–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
Heverest.ru, an online retailer for sport, leisure and travel goods, has attracted another $4.3 million in financing. The majority of the investment was received from one of Russia’s largest investment funds, along with one of the existing finance partners of Heverest.ru, the European venture fund, eVenture Capital Partners. After this new round of investment, the total amount invested in Heverest.ru has now reached $6.7 million.
The company intends to use this additional funding to finance the expansion of their online product offering, as well as improving the quality of their customer service by developing the current CRM system. A proportion of the new funds will be allocated to subsidize the launch of a new marketing campaign, which aims to increase brand awareness of Heverest.ru among current and potential clients.
Heverest.ru is a start-up business launched by Fast Lane Ventures, a company focused on the development, launch and promotion of innovative internet businesses since 1^st June 2011.
At present, Heverest.ru has an online collection of more than 6,000 items from 150 major International sport and leisure brands including: Salomon, Nike, Columbia, Adidas, Reebok, Puma, Speedo and others, with the product range being renewed on a regular basis. The website has an average of 600,000 visitors per month.
Vladimir Kim, CEO of Heverest.ru, commented:
“Our ambition is to become Russia’s most popular online store for sport, leisure and travel goods. Before Heverest.ru, there were no such websites offering all kinds of sport, leisure and travel products in one place. We are in a strong position to change this, having joined the club of most successful startups in the Russian market of e-commerce, such as UTINET, KUPUVIP, SAPATO, etc.”
Marina Treshchova, CEO of Fast Lane Ventures, commented:
“We are witnessing two significant trends in this country. First, is an unprecedented growth of e-commerce and second, is an increasing government interest in sports and encouraging active lifestyles. Heverest.ru, as an online supplier of sporting goods, benefits from both of these trends. The Company’s dynamic pace of development and committed support from our investors, supports our own philosophy and proves that this is the right choice of the business model.”
A recent report by Russian market research agency RuMetrika.ru showed that Russia’s sports and leisure industry made about $6 billion in 2010. According to Fast Lane Ventures’ forecast, the market is likely to reach $12 billion by 2015. Equally, the global market of sport and leisure goods is expected to grow from $175 billion in 2010 to $240 billion in 2015 (Data Insight). That means Russia’s share in this segment will increase from 3.5 to 5%.
Fast Lane Ventures is the leading developer of internet companies in the high growth Russian internet market. For more information on Fast Lane Ventures please visit http://fastlaneventures.ru/en/http://tourism9.com/    http://vkins.com/

Saudi- SIDF extends loans worth SR8bn in 2011

(MENAFN – Arab News) The Saudi Industrial Development Fund (SIDF) has extended a total of 118 loans worth SR8.08 billion during the last financial year.
This was an increase of 24 percent compared with the previous year, according to SIDF director general Ali bin Abdullah Al-Ayed.
These loans helped setting up of 86 new industrial projects and expansion of 32 existing ones that have a total investment of SR35 billion, the Saudi Press Agency quoted him as saying.
According to Al-Ayed, SIDF has so far extended a total of 3,344 loans with a value of SR95.5 billion since its inception in 1394 AH (1974). “These loans played a major role in establishing 2,371 industrial projects in various regions of the Kingdom. The fund extended loans worth SR64.6 billion to investors, of which repayment amounting to SR37.2 billion was made until the end of the last financial year,” he said.
Al-Ayed noted that the SIDF scored excellent performance results at all levels during 2011.
“This financing played a key role in further boosting the Kingdom’s industrial sector by enabling it to make available of a large number of consumer products in the local market in addition to exporting them, besides creating more job opportunities for young Saudi jobseekers. The Fund’s Kafala Program for financing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has played a vital role in the development of SMEs as well as in realizing the Kingdom’s social and economic development,” he said, adding that the fund approved SR636 million under the program against extending of banking loans worth SR1,284 million for 742 SMEs last year.
The SIDF plays a pivotal role in the fulfillment of the objectives and policies of programs devised for the Kingdom’s industrialization. It implements these programs through the provision of financial assistance in the form of short term loans to investors in industry besides offering technical, administrative, financial and marketing advice at the highest professional levels to borrowers. These activities combine to ensure the success of potential industrial projects while simultaneously enabling borrowers to negotiate obstacles they are likely to encounter.
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BSP microfinance support commended

Wednesday, January 11, 2012
CENTRAL Bank’s decision to extend until December 31, 2014 the regulatory exemption allowing small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to apply for bank loans without submitting audited financial statements and/or income tax returns will especially be beneficial to those living in rural areas.
“Micro, small and medium scale enterprises provide so many Filipinos with jobs and stable income so we should focus on providing them the funding they need to keep operating,” said Senator Edgardo Angara in yesterday’s statement to Sun.Star.
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“However, most of these small businesses lack the proper paperwork which prevents them from borrowing the capital they need so this extension is much needed.”
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the three-year extension is aligned with the BSP’s long-standing thrust of providing support to micro-and small-enterprises by assisting these institutions gain greater access to credit from banks.
This is also to support entrepreneurs who are vital partners in the development of the financial market and of the broad economy. “This temporary exemption from existing regulations is aimed at finding ways to help these entrepreneurs obtain greater access to credit in terms of less documentary requirements that usually characterize bank loans.”
Angara said close to a million SMEs successfully borrowed from the BSP in 2011 with an average loan of P7,260 per proprietor but stressed that financial institutions should also strive to improve their credit information system so that loans are processed more efficiently. “With this, we can expect to improve the availability of credit especially to small borrower entrepreneurs.”
Angara authored the Credit Information System Act, which was signed into law in 2008 as Republic Act 9510. The law created the Credit Information Corporation, which aims to establish a comprehensive and centralized credit information scheme that will shorten processing time and reduce transaction costs.
“A reliable credit system will effectively address the need of financing institutions to check the track record of their borrowers, resulting in less credit risks and more stability,” he explained. (CGC)

Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on January 11, 2012