Aycliffe Today Business PNE1578_AycliffeTodayBusiness_Issue28_WEBhighres | Page 7
The magazine for Aycliffe Business Park | 7
/NEWS
BUSINESS BRIEFS
BETTER HEALTH AT WORK
Ebac expands to Midlands
with key appointment
Newton Aycliffe manufacturer Ebac has
recruited an experienced sales professional
to support the expansion of its washing
machine sales into the Midlands.
With more than 30 years industry
experience, most recently at Hotpoint
where he worked for over a decade, Richard
Foster has joined the Ebac team as sales
development manager.
During his career he has established a
real drive and vision for the UK white goods
market and as a member of the Ebac team,
he sees the brand firmly placed at the centre
of that vision, as a future industry leader.
Foster is responsible for the Midlands
region, an area in which he already has
excellent relationships with many of the local
retailers, attained during his career.
His objective is to work with the
independent retailers to be able to provide
the market with the only British-made
washing machines, and the company’s well-
established dehumidifiers.
Foster is confident that he can work
alongside the company to help it achieve
continued success.
“This is a really exciting opportunity to
work with a new name in the white goods
industry, and help develop the business into
a household name,” he said.
“One which will not only be linked to
quality dehumidifiers, but also safe, reliable
British made washing machines”.
Ebac became the first company in
more than two decades to bring back the
manufacture of British made washing
machines last year.
The County Durham-based company
invested £7m in the development of the
venture, with the new models comprising
revolutionary dual fill technology, as an
alternative to traditional cold fill machines,
which will lower energy bills through shorter
wash times. Ebac is also offering 10 year
parts and labour warranties on selected
washing machines.
Aycliffe firm secures £1.1m
private equity investment
A Newton Aycliffe business has secured
more than a million pounds’ worth of
investment from a major private equity firm.
Growth Capital Ventures (GCV) has
received a £1.1m boost from Maven Capital
Partners, a prominent UK private equity
house, and worked alongside another
local business, Stockton-based Endeavour
Partnership, to complete the deal.
GCV is a leading developer and operator
of online co-investment platforms. Their first
platform, GrowthFunders, allows everyday
investors to invest alongside professional
investors and venture capital funds, backing
the next generation of high growth British
businesses.
In addition, GCV now also plans to
launch a new ‘Peer to Peer’ (P2P) lending
platform that will allow investors to invest
in asset backed property and clean energy
opportunities.
Endeavour Partnership advised GCV on
various legal aspects of the investment.
Martin McKinnell, associate at Endeavour
Partnership, said: “This was a detailed and
fast-moving deal with varying aspects.
“We advised on a number of elements
including due diligence enquiries raised
by Maven, reviewing and amending
transactional documents with regards to
the investment, overseeing the investment
process and dealing with the administrative
aspects of implementing the investment
both in terms of pre-completion changes to
GCV and implementation of the investment
structure.”
Business gathered for the County Durham
Better Health at Work Awards ceremony,
held at Ramside Hall Hotel near Durham.
A total of 50 businesses (small, medium
and large) attended the ceremony
organised by Newton Aycliffe-based the
Pioneering Care Partnership (PCP), which
manages the County Durham sub-region
of the North East Better Health at Work
Award.
The awards were officially opened by
Carol Gaskarth, PCP’s chief executive,
who also picked up an award, on behalf
of local charity PCP, for Continuing
Excellence.
“I was delighted to open the fabulous
and unique awards ceremony, celebrating
the hard work and dedication of
local businesses and Healthy Living
Pharmacies,” she said.
6,000 ‘NEW JOBS IN NORTH-EAST’
Businesses investing in the North East
will create over 6,000 jobs in the next
three years, according to statistics
unveiled by Invest North East England this
morning.
On behalf of the region’s seven local
authorities and the North East Local
Enterprise Partnership (LEP), figures
show 84 inward investments in the North
East between April 2016 – March 2017
by companies creating a new base or
expanding existing operations.
With the IT, automotive, manufacturing,
energy and financial sectors booming
over the past year, the region has enjoyed
a total of 84 inward investment projects
during the period, with 64 of these
investments from foreign companies.
The region’s biggest overseas investor
continues to be the USA.
NEW APPOINTMENT
Newtonian Sharon Hutchinson has been
appointed as the new vice chair of one of
the region’s leading business networking
organisations.
Sharon, who is practice manager at
Stockton-based law firm Endeavour
Partnership, was selected for the role at
Darlington Business Club by the club’s
chair thanks to her varied experience
across fields including SME practice, the
legal sector and business management.
In her new role, Sharon will be focussing
on increasing membership and events
even further at the popular Darlington
Business Club, which was established
in the 1980s and has grown to be the
largest business network in and around
the Darlington area with more than 120
members.
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