CRESC Working Paper Series - Working Paper No. 139 - The missing Welsh Mittelstand: an argument for re-connecting

The first set of conditions arises from the broken supply chains which are a consequence of recent British 3 economic history; in the Welsh case, this is compounded by the specific and permanent handicap of topography and the mountains in the middle which make Wales a corridor economy. [...] The problem is the mountains in the middle which divide the Welsh economy into three corridors: the Cardiff Newport/M4 corridor, the Wrexham/Flint corridor and y fro gymraeg. [...] 14 4 The question then is whether, in the longer term, the next owner(s) do represent a safe pair of hands for the brand and the workforce. [...] The Venture Capital Trusts Scheme mitigates the risk of investment in SME’s by permitting the investor to channel the funds through an Investment Trust which provides the advantage of a diversified portfolio of companies. [...] The merit of the structure is that the corporate structure and management of the company owned by the trust remains in place.