Agenda item

1. Cabinet approved the Council’s acquisition of the University of Bristol’s shares in Bristol Is Open Limited (BIO), so that the Council becomes the sole shareholder of BIO, owning 2 ordinary shares and 700,000 redeemable preferences shares of BIO.

2. Cabinet delegated authority to the Service Director – Finance, in consultation with the Deputy Mayor for Finance, Governance and Performance, to approve the terms of such acquisition (taking into account the outputs of the further legal and financial review of BIO) and to enter into all such documents as are necessary to give effect to this decision.

3. Cabinet approved the high-level business plan 2019/2020 in Appendix A2 and Exempt Appendix J2, subject to approval being given to Recommendation 2.

4. Cabinet approved an allocation from the Council’s risk reserve of up to £500k in respect of future business in/with BIO (following the share purchase), as set out in this report, and to delegate authority to the Service Director – Finance in consultation with Deputy Mayor for Finance, Governance and Performance to agree the details of how this funding should be used, and to conclude the necessary contracts and/or appropriate legal arrangements.

5. Cabinet noted that BCC has awarded BIO a contract for the delivery of the ‘Open Programmable City Region’.