SJ Berwin secures Whitehall Capital fund advisory role

SJ Berwin has won a mandate from the Government to advise on the ­establishment of its Capital for Enterprise fund.

The fund, which is made up of £50m of Government money and an additional £25m provided jointly by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and the Royal Bank of ­Scotland, was mooted by business secretary Peter Mandelson in January as a way of providing finance to viable businesses experiencing liquidity problems.

Fund formation partner Simon Witney is leading the SJ Berwin team advising the Government, alongside partners Polly Daines, Tamasin Little and Daniel Tunkel. The banks were advised by Linklaters and DLA Piper.

Witney has advised the Government on similar schemes in the past, having acted on the formation of the similarly named Enterprise Capital Funds that were designed to bridge the equity gap for early-stage venture capital companies that are too small to attract the attention of ­professional investors.