BGF tops £400m invested in Midlands
Added by Love Business East Midlands | 9 January 2020
Investor celebrates growth in the portfolio throughout 2019
BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active investor, has now invested £411m into 50 businesses in the Midlands, with £57m of that total invested in the past 12 months in new investments and follow-on funding for existing portfolio companies based across the region.
With offices across Birmingham, Nottingham and Milton Keynes, BGF made several investments in the UK’s growing life sciences sector in 2019, including Nottingham-based business incubator BioCity and Cambridge-based life sciences business Fluidic Analytics.
BGF also provided follow-on investment to nine existing portfolio businesses, including corporate travel management company Click Travel, which appeared in this year’s Sunday Times Top Track and Profit Track rankings, and ReBOUND Returns which won Scale-Up Business of the Year at The Lloyds National Business Awards and The Spectator Economic Disruptor of the Year Midlands.
In October, BGF successfully exited its investment in landscaping and grounds maintenance company TCL Group, as the business was acquired by idverde to create the UK’s largest provider of outdoor green services. BGF first invested in TCL Group in May 2014 to exit an existing shareholder and provide funding for the acquisition of Burleys, and since provided more than £16m to the group.
Gurinder Sunner, head of BGF’s Midlands team, said:
“2019 was a strong year for BGF, with new investments, follow-on into portfolio companies and some successful exits. Our portfolio is growing and experiencing growth despite wider economic uncertainty - there’s a strong appetite from entrepreneurs to get on with building their businesses and grow.
“We’re expecting 2020 to be a year of much more acceleration – with a General Election behind us, businesses are ready to move forward and we are ready to provide the funding and support to help them scale up and realise their potential.”
BGF has itself continued its expansion in the Midlands in 2019, with nine new hires across the region. Head of Midlands, Gurinder Sunner, was named Dealmaker of the Year at the Midlands Dealmakers Awards. Joanne Smith was also highly commended as the Emerging Dealmaker at the same awards.
Latest News
