People: BGF expands Midlands investment team; Property consultancy makes promotion; and more
BGF has expanded its investment team covering the West Midlands with the appointment of Tom Horton, who will be based in the Birmingham office.
Horton joins BGF from Lloyds Banking Group, where he held roles including head of Midlands business services and relationship director for Lloyds’ Midlands mid-cap team, specialising in debt finance and M&A.
Prior to Lloyds, he spent nine years at Barclays Corporate Banking, in roles including vice president of debt finance origination.
Horton said: “I’m delighted to be joining BGF, which has firmly established itself in the Midlands market having continued to increase its pace of investments in very ambitious businesses and following a number of exciting exits.
“BGF’s long-term, minority-stake investment model provides businesses with a different type of funding option, presenting a new opportunity as an investor.”
His appointment follows a record year of investing for the Midlands team, which invested £86m into nine businesses and through follow-on funding for existing companies in its portfolio to support further growth.
2018 investments have included waste services business Red Industries, returns management platform Rebound Returns, craft brewery company Purity and travel management business Click Travel.
BGF also made three successful exits in 2018 – Brownhills Glass, GCI, the converged ICT services company, and MPK Garages, an independent operator of fuel forecourts under the Texaco and Gulf brands.
Gurinder Sunner, who heads up BGF in the Midlands and Milton Keynes, said: “We’re delighted to have Tom join the team here at BGF. He brings a track record of successfully winning and growing new relationships and completing a variety of transactions across different sectors. We’ve had a record year in the Midlands, as has the business as a whole, and Tom’s local knowledge and reputation in the region will be a great addition to the team as we continue to grow.”
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Johnson Fellows partners Neil Wetherell, Mark Tindale, Chris Gaskell, Chris Litherland, Anthony Foster and Nick Wint.
Anthony Foster, head of building surveying, has been promoted to an equity partner at property consultancy Johnson Fellows.
Foster, who has been with the Birmingham-based company since 2009, has led the building surveying team for several years on many major projects.
Among those recently completed is the project management of the construction of a £7m extension to the headquarters of Games Workshop in Nottingham.
The building consultancy team acts for clients including the Co-op, Hinckley & Rugby Building Society, Lloyds Bank, Onestop Stores Limited, RAL, Solihull Council and Pallet Track.
Managing partner Neil Wetherell said: “We’re very pleased to recognise Anthony’s hard work and commitment to his role and the company with his promotion to equity partner. It’s great news to welcome another top professional to the company’s leadership group.”
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Home safety products supplier FireAngel has welcomed John Conoley as non-executive chairman.
Conoley began his career in the IT industry with IBM in 1983, and worked in a range of industries in technical, sales, and marketing roles. Since then, he has held general management and director-level roles in small and medium-sized private and public companies.
Recent public company roles include CEO of Psion, the listed international mobile device company, from April 2008 to October 2012 when it was sold to Motorola; and non-executive director of NetDimensions (Holdings), the AIMlisted human capital management software company, from October 2016 to April 2017 when it was sold to Learning Technologies.
Following Conoley’s appointment, Graham Whitworth, the company’s executive chairman, has been appointed part time executive director of the company for 12 months with a view to becoming a non-executive director after that period.
