The pair have joined a £2.5million venture to boost the economyFormer Dragon Theo Paphitis has also invested in the Senone partnership
Company has given loans to more than a dozen companies in a year
With his Premier League salary rumoured to be around £230,000 a week, Wayne Rooney is certainly a man with money to spare.
Now the Manchester United and England striker is using his wealth to help provide a boost to the economy. The 27-year-old has teamed up with cricketer Kevin Pietersen and Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis to offer a service giving loans to small businesses that have been turned down by the banks.
The trio are investors in a £2.5 million venture put together by Ian Currie, a former director of Bolton Wanderers.
They are thought to have contributed about £200,000 each to the partnership, which has been lending to small business without fanfare for more than a year and has given loans to more than a dozen different companies.
‘Through the loans we have saved about 200 jobs,’ Mr Currie told The Mail on Sunday.
Unlike many investments favoured by sports stars, such as film and property ventures, there are no tax advantages to the deal.
‘We lend to companies that can’t borrow from the banks. We put about £200,000 to £500,000 into businesses,’ Mr Currie said.
He added that since its creation in late 2011, the partnership – called Senone – had been inundated with requests for finance, fielding 500 queries in the past year.
The partnership has 13 investors, including several partners in Seneca, Mr Currie’s investment firm.
Bob Holt, the chairman of social housing maintenance company Mears, is also a backer.Mr Currie said he had contacts in the sports world from his time at Bolton, enabling him to put together the stellar cast of investors.
‘Clearly, with the money these guys have got, it’s not massive money for them.’
While Pietersen and Rooney are relative newcomers to the world of small company financing, Theo Paphitis has a long background in backing small ventures.
The entrepreneur made his money turning around retailers including La Senza and Ryman.
More recently he set up a lingerie firm, Boux Avenue, and bought high street hardware chain Robert Dyas in July last year. Earlier this year he said he would be stepping down from his role on Dragons’ Den.
Senone has put money into printing firms, one petrol forecourt business, an interior design company and a luxury motorhomes business.
The funding venture has been so successful that Mr Currie is considering starting a bank.
He said the Senone partnership was set up as a turnaround fund to rescue struggling companies, but the demand has been from companies unable to obtain conventional bank loans.
Politicians have been bitterly critical of banks and their failure to lend to small businesses, despite Government initiatives such as the Funding For Lending scheme. That has led to a growth in alternative sources of finance, with new enterprises stepping in to lend to firms.
‘One company we lent to got a big contract, and couldn’t get funds to honour it,’ Mr Currie said.
He is now hoping to start a proper bank focused on the North of England. It would take deposits from individuals and lend to small companies. He said he is aiming to raise £20 million to get the project off the ground.
The Senone partnership is not technically a bank because it does not take deposits. Anyone can lend to small companies, but anyone taking deposits must have approval from regulators.
The Government is trying to encourage the launch of new banks, announcing changes last week that would make it easier for companies to enter the market.
