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Nuclear Liabilities Fund invests £250m alongside British Patient Capital to enable long term investment in innovative companies across the UK

Press release 11 April 2019

British Patient Capital is to manage £250 million on behalf of the Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF), investing in venture and growth capital funds, targeting investment in high potential innovative companies across the UK. This is the first third-party source of funds for British Patient Capital and comes only 10 months since the business launched in June 2018. This transaction confirms that British Patient Capital is rapidly establishing itself in the venture capital sector and quickly building its track record.

The investment supports the primary objective of the NLF to achieve sufficiency of the fund to meet certain costs of decommissioning EDF Energy’s eight nuclear power stations that are currently operating in the UK.

Since June last year British Patient Capital has grown its portfolio to 31 funds, which have backed more than 200 businesses to date. With its aim to address the funding gap at the scale-up stage, British Patient Capital is looking forward to working with institutional investors to unlock additional patient capital.

This is an exciting next step in British Patient Capital’s journey. NLF’s investment is testament to British Patient Capital’s investment strategy and establishes our credentials as a professional fund manager of third-party capital.

We’re delighted that the Nuclear Liabilities Fund shares our confidence in the potential for our investment strategy to deliver attractive commercial returns, which will help them meet their future liabilities. We plan to continue to attract institutional capital to expand institutional investor diversity in the venture and growth asset class.

Catherine Lewis La Torre CEO, British Patient Capital
We are pleased to be working with British Patient Capital on diversifying our portfolio. As a matter of principle, we look to hold a significant percentage of our assets in UK related investments, to enable us to play a supportive role in the development of the UK economy. We believe that British Patient Capital can help us achieve our required returns whilst playing this role. We are delighted that British Patient Capital’s strategy is a natural fit to this approach. Catherine Cripps Member of the Investment Committee, Nuclear Liabilities Fund

British Patient Capital’s approach to patient capital is to increase the volume, diversity and accessibility of longer-term finance so that smaller businesses can access the finance they need to achieve their growth ambitions; ensuring that the UK remains the key place in Europe to raise a fund and scale a business. The intention is to float or sell British Patient Capital once it has established a sufficient track record.

The NLF is a fund which was set-up in 1996 to provide arrangements for funding certain long-term costs for the decommissioning of eight nuclear power stations formerly owned by British Energy, now EDF Energy.

Further Information

Notes to editors

About British Patient Capital

British Patient Capital is the trading name of British Patient Capital Limited, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the UK government’s economic development bank. It forms part of the British Business Bank’s commercial arm.

Its mission is to enable long-term investment in innovative firms led by ambitious entrepreneurs who want to build large scale businesses. British Patient Capital has been given new resources of £2.5bn and will deliver a programme designed to support high growth potential innovative UK businesses in accessing the long-term financing they require to scale up. Find out more at britishpatientcapital.co.uk.

British Business Bank plc and its principal operating subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. Neither British Business Bank nor its principal operating subsidiaries are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries can be found on the British Business Bank plc website.

About Nuclear Liabilities Fund (NLF)

The NLF was established by HM Government on 28 March 1996 as part of the privatisation arrangements for British Energy Group PLC (now EDF Energy Nuclear Generation Limited (‘EDFE’)). The NLF is wholly owned by The Nuclear Trust, established between EDFE, the Secretary of State and five trustees.

The aim of the Fund is to help ensure that future generations are not burdened by decommissioning costs related to the consumption of nuclear generated energy by the present generation.

The Fund has a primary purpose of receiving and holding monies, investments and other assets, to meet certain costs of decommissioning EDF Energy’s eight nuclear power stations that are currently operating in the UK.

As a matter of principle, the NLF holds a significant percentage of assets in UK related investments. This is seen as a natural currency hedge for EDFE’s decommissioning liabilities as well as enabling it to play a supportive role in the development of the UK economy. Further information can be found on nlf.uk.net.

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