15 July 2019: BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor in growing businesses, has today announced that it has committed £2bn into UK and Irish SMEs. This includes almost £250m deployed across 30 Scottish businesses to date, including follow-on funding to support further growth.
The landmark capital investment was reached following £7.5m of growth funding for Merseyside-based manufacturer Joloda International, as well as BGF’s most active day ever for capital deployment in mid-June, with a total of £48m committed.
BGF has backed 30 businesses in Scotland since 2011, with a combined investment of over £250m. Recent investments include independent care home provider Parklands and catering and facilities management firm Entier, as well as follow-on investments for long term investee companies SPEX Services and Stats Group.
From scratch, BGF has now backed 285 companies across the UK and Ireland since it was set up in 2011, providing growth funding in every region and almost every sector of the economy. More than 70% of the £2bn has been committed to businesses based outside of London and the South East.
The Aberdeen office has also recently made successful exits in software developer Petrotechnics and independent opticians chain Duncan and Todd. The proceeds of these exits are recycled back to BGF’s £2.5bn balance sheet as an intrinsic part of its evergreen funding model.
Mike Sibson, head of BGF’s Aberdeen office, said: “BGF was set up in 2011 with a clear mission - to establish a new, regionally-focused funding model to back promise and ambition wherever we found it. We opened an office in Aberdeen because we saw so much potential here and we’re proud to have backed some of the most exciting businesses across the North of Scotland. It’s a huge achievement for our team but also testament to the strength of businesses and advisers in the region.
“We’re looking forward to seeing more entrepreneurs using our capital not only to scale up their own business, but to drive Scotland’s economic activity, and increase employment, exports and growth.”
Early this year BGF launched a new campaign, ‘Ready for Business’ – an initiative to see investors confidently advocate for continued growth, committing to entrepreneurs and investing in the age of uncertainty. BGF has delivered on this promise and recognises the need to do even more with a weakening economy and heightened concerns.
Stephen Welton, CEO of BGF, said: “The BGF model is not based on a conventional fund – we are a company, with a strong and liquid balance sheet, set up for long-term investing and long-term growth. This is a core part of our appeal to entrepreneurs, vital in meeting the funding gap for growth companies in Britain and Ireland, and I’m delighted to see our model being embraced and adopted internationally. This is a great example of the UK’s proven leadership in Financial Services, through carefully planned regulatory changes, to deliver a completely new investment model.”
