NORTHERN Venture Managers has backed a £400,000 deal to help a company drive down mobile phone costs for business customers.

Balfour Corporate Finance secured the money from GSM Central Limited, a Thames Valley entrepreneurial project in the telecoms sector.

Northern Venture Managers operates from offices in Edinburgh, Newcastle and Reading, and has assets under management of more than £140m.

It specialises in making equity investments of between £500,000 and £5m in UK unquoted companies and has the capacity to deliver deals of up to £15m.