Stand by for massive investment in the smaller high flying businesses of Yorkshire.Yorkshire Fund Managers Ltd has been selected by Baring Private Equity Partners (BPEP) to pinpoint the companies in the region most likely to succeed - and they will get a share of a new £60 million development fund.

The bonanza is designed to exploit a continuing gap in the private equity market.

Sums of between £2 million and £3 million will be on offer - an amount not usually catered for by private equity providers which tend to concentrate increasingly on larger transactions. Yorkshire Fund Managers, one of only three regional investment advisers selected to work with the BPEP, is the fund management arm of the Yorkshire Enterprise Group under whose management include two venture capital trusts - British Smaller Companies VCT and British Smaller Technology Companies VCT.

Phil Cammerman, managing director of Yorkshire Fund Managers said: "We are delighted to be working with BPEP on this new fund. We recognise that developing companies tend to require a high level of support from experienced businessmen and financiers who are familiar with the dynamics of managing small to medium sized enterprise investments.

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