Pete Sorsby
Investment Director
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- Full Name
- Pete Sorsby
- Title
- Fund Principal, NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance (previously titled Investment Manager / Deputy Fund Principal)
- Firm
- Mercia Asset Management PLC (Mercia Debt)
- Firm Type
- Asset manager / regional fund manager — debt (lending) finance, deployed under the British Business Bank's Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund. *(Note: the supplied stub described him as an "angel investor" doing "seed rounds"; this is not supported by primary sources — Pete leads SME debt/loan finance, not angel/seed equity.)*
- Investment Stage
- Established/growth-stage SMEs seeking debt (start-up, scale-up and "stay ahead" lending), not early seed equity
- Check Size
- Loans from £100,000 up to £2m under NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance
- Target Company Profile
- Small and medium-sized businesses needing growth capital, working capital, acquisition/MBO funding, or expansion finance — including firms that might otherwise struggle to access mainstream bank lending
- Sector Focus
- Sector-agnostic SME lending (deals span manufacturing, veterinary, hospitality/farm diversification, technology/telecoms, laboratory services, plant hire, etc.)
- Geographic Focus
- Yorkshire & the Humber (within the wider North of England covered by NPIF II)
- Location
- Sheffield / Yorkshire & the Humber, UK
Background
Pete Sorsby is the Fund Principal for NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance, responsible for delivering the fund across the Yorkshire & Humber region. He joined Mercia Asset Management in 2017 and brings more than 30 years of lending experience to the role. He has worked with the SME community in and around the region since 1996, and is a member of the company-wide "Mercia Spirit" committee.
Before Mercia, Pete spent his career at the RBS Group, where his final role was Director for Commercial Banking covering South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire, running the bank's relationship management team across that area. Earlier he held a relationship director position in commercial banking working directly with the SME sector in the same region, and he completed a six-month secondment to the bank's lending programme project in 2013.
At Mercia his title has evolved with the funds he manages — he was described as "Investment Manager" on earlier deals (e.g. 2020) and as Deputy Fund Principal/Fund Principal on the NPIF and NPIF II Debt mandates. Mercia Debt was appointed by the British Business Bank as fund manager of the NPIF II Debt mandate for Yorkshire & the Humber, providing loans of £100,000 to £2m to support SME start-up, scale-up and growth. He is part of Mercia's Sheffield team.
Investment Thesis & Focus
- Provides debt/loan finance, not equity — loans typically from £100,000 to £2m under NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance (the wider NPIF II programme spans loans from £25k to £2m and equity up to £5m, but Pete's remit is the debt mandate).
- Backs established SMEs across virtually any sector for growth: working capital, expansion, acquisitions/MBOs and capital projects.
- Explicitly aims to reach businesses that mainstream lenders might overlook: *"Debt funding plays a critical role in supporting business growth. Our mission is to help SMEs in the North to access the finance they need, particularly those that might otherwise not receive it."* (December 2024)
- Looks for credible management teams with clear growth/expansion plans and a track record — e.g. praising one borrower as "an established name within the industry with a loyal client base."
- Geographically disciplined: deals must have a Yorkshire & the Humber (or wider North of England) footprint to qualify for the fund.
Notable Investments
- Talk Straight (Ilkley) — £500,000 working-capital loan to fund growth strategy; reported to have created 10 new jobs within five months (2024–25).
- Sore Paws Veterinary Ltd (Newton Aycliffe) — £400,000 to expand and fit out additional space for the veterinary practice (2024–25).
- Inteb (Birkenhead) — loan to support expansion into contract work, expected to create around 20 additional jobs (2024–25).
- Thornton Park Farm (Ripponden) — £100,000 for farm diversification, building luxury holiday lodges (2024–25).
- IP&C Solutions — £150,000 loan supporting expansion after its acquisition of British Clinical Services (laboratory safety-cabinet installation/testing); clients included Oxford and Cambridge Universities, the NHS and Cancer Research UK (April 2020; Pete quoted as Investment Manager).
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