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Salica Investments Announces First Close of its £150 million Growth Debt Fund II

Press release 01 October 2025

Salica Investments (“Salica”), a UK-focused investment firm, is pleased to announce the first close of its second Growth Debt Fund (“Fund II”), securing commitments from leading institutional investors, further underscoring growing investor confidence in the asset class.  

The flagship repeat anchor investors for Fund II are the British Business Bank, which has made a £30 million commitment and previously backed Fund I, and West Yorkshire Pension Fund, which increased its commitment to £30 million from the first fund, alongside a number of other investors. The Fund provides vital capital to innovative and high growth companies across the full breadth of the UK.  

Salica Growth Debt is managed by one of the UK’s most experienced teams with a combined 50 years of venture and growth debt experience.  

David Hayers, Head of Growth Debt at Salica Investments, said

We’re already seeing strong institutional interest for a second close later this year, driven by Salica’s rigorous approach to deal selection, longstanding reputation and increasing investor demand for growth debt across the UK.

Our team’s track record of deploying over £500m to some of the UK’s most promising and underserved businesses demonstrates why institutional partners are doubling down on our growth debt strategy.

Andrew Noyons, Managing Partner, Salica Investments, said:

We are delighted to build on Fund I’s attractive investment performance with this larger successor fund. Furthermore, the strategy’s domestic lending focus is well aligned with the Mansion House Accord objectives to boost saver outcomes and deliver UK growth.

Adam Kelly, Managing Director and Co-Head of Funds, British Business Bank.

Following on from the success of Salica’s inaugural fund, which provided vital capital to high growth businesses across the UK’s Nations and regions, we are excited to continue our partnership by backing Fund II. Venture Debt funds like Salica’s Growth Debt Fund can help UK businesses to achieve strong growth without reducing control of their business.

Darran Ward, Head of Alternatives, West Yorkshire Pension Fund, said: 

Salica’s UK growth debt strategy is a natural fit for our Alternatives mandate. By increasing our commitment to Fund II, we’re reinforcing our support for UK growth and innovation whilst delivering resilient, long-term returns for our members.

Fund I backed a wide range of companies delivering strong realised returns at a lower risk than equity alternatives. Salica Growth Debt Fund II provides senior secured loans to high-growth companies with a regional focus across the UK in software, IP-rich hardware, and advanced manufacturing sectors. The team will continue to specialise in these sectors that many debt providers struggle to serve well. The result is attractive risk-adjusted returns in a high potential asset class.  

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About Salica Investments

Founded originally as an investment firm focusing on the most promising businesses, Salica has evolved into a unique set of private market funds investing in equity and debt across multiple sectors and stages, predominantly across the UK.  

Salica fuses traditional values with a contemporary approach and balance exacting processes with the agility to capture commercial opportunity and compelling investment returns. Our continuous search for new opportunities has led us to create a balanced collection of contemporary funds and relationships.  

More details can be found at: Salica Investments

About the British Business Bank 

The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to drive sustainable growth and prosperity across the UK and to enable the transition to a net zero economy, by improving access to finance for smaller businesses. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government. The British Business Bank’s core programmes support £23bn 1  of finance to almost 64,000 2  smaller businesses.

As well as increasing the supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank's Business Guidance Library  provides independent and impartial information to businesses about finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

The British Business Bank is also responsible for administering the government’s three Coronavirus loan schemes and its Future Fund, together responsible for delivering £80.4bn in finance to 1.67m businesses. These schemes are now closed to new applications.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. With the exception of BBB Investment Services Limited they are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority or the Financial Conduct Authority. BBB Investment Services Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at British Business Bank.

The Investment Programme is operated by British Business Investments Ltd, a wholly owned commercial subsidiary of British Business Bank plc. British Business Investments Ltd is registered in England and Wales with company number 09091930, and registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ.  

The transaction described above does not constitute or imply any endorsement, warranty or recommendation by the UK government, British Business Bank plc or its subsidiaries or any other party in respect of Salica Investments or its products or services.

About the West Yorkshire Pension Fund  

The West Yorkshire Pension Fund (WYPF) is a major public sector pension scheme in the UK, primarily serving employees within local government and other eligible public service organisations in West Yorkshire. Administered by the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, WYPF provides retirement benefits to its members, including pensions, lump-sum payments, and death-in-service benefits.

Operating under the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) regulations, the fund is known for its large in-house investment team with strategy and implementation carried out internally, and for retaining a large allocation to the UK. With over £20 billion in assets under management, WYPF ensures reliable financial returns for over 300,000 members while also achieving positive social, economic, and environmental impact.

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