THE boss of one of Scotland's biggest private equity houses has declared that Scotland had a "narrow escape" by voting No to independence.

Bill Nixon, managing partner of Glasgow-based Maven Capital Partners, said a Yes vote would have seen the capital which flows into Scotland to fund major development projects dry up.

With the subsequent crash in the price of oil, which has steadied after a sharp plunge, he believes the country would have faced economic disaster had Scotland voted to leave the UK.

Mr Nixon, whose firm has £350 million of funds under management: "There is a lot of English money helping the Scottish economy, and we certainly saw during the uncertain period in the lead up to the independence referendum [that] a lot of projects went on hold.

"I'm very surprised at the lack of subsequent follow-up around what has happened to the oil price. I believe had the vote gone for Yes I think we would be facing a fully-fledged depression, because the money supply for investment products in Scotland would have completely dried up.

"I think the man in the street was probably unaware to [of the extent] to which the economy for new projects was slowing because of the uncertainty around that particular issue.

"That's a non-partisan comment around independence - it is just a commercial reality."

He added: "I know of one law firm that four projects literally on hold that were unlocked the day after the referendum. I think we had a narrow escape."

Maven attracts significant investment from English investors into Scottish projects.

One example was the multi-million pound Mitchell House student accommodation project developed by Maven in Glasgow's Bath Street, where around half the funding came from a single high net-worth investor in the south-east of England.

Asked whether investor sentiment had changed since the referendum took place, Mr Nixon added: "I still pick up comments from our investor base that there is still an element of uncertainty around the sovereignty issue. But I think most investors are content for the moment."

Equally, Mr Nixon said he is "very encouraged" by the general performance of the UK economy, noting that the bulk of companies Maven has backed are in good shape.

And he believes bank lending to businesses has settled on a "new normal" following an "over-correction" in 2008 and 2009 in the immediate aftermath of the financial crash.

Mr Nixon said: "A number of the banks are lending again. They are certainly lending less relative to a business's earnings or assets; the cost of debt is more expensive both in terms of interest rates and fees, but the banks are back in the market and we have to work around what is available."

"There has been an interesting shift in our transactions in that we have never over-leveraged.

"Whenever we buy a business, we never over-leverage because we look back to the dark days of 2008 and 2009, and many private equity houses saw assets fall into the hands of banks at the time because the companies were over-borrowed.

"We are always now conservative whenever we take on external debt and in many of the transactions that we complete we are the only funder, so basically we provide all of the finance, perhaps in conjunction with some vendor loan.

"We have reshaped the business model to require less debt in deals, although it is still an important part of being able to provide returns."