BGF tops £300m invested in North West

BGF’s North West team has now invested £311m across 34 businesses in the region, with £59m of that total invested in the past 12 months.

New investments included Manchester-based FinTech company Planixs, international schools group Orbital Education and Joloda International, a fast-growing manufacturing firm based in Merseyside.

This investment took BGF past its £2bn investment milestone.

Last month BGF, which was named private equity team of the year at TheBusinessDesk.com North West Rainmaker Awards last June, announced a £10m investment in CurrentBody, a Manchester-based online retail specialist for home-use beauty devices.

BGF also provided follow-on investment to four existing portfolio businesses, including web-hosting business, Miss Group, which has since made acquisitions across Scandinavia, North America and Europe.

Coachbuilding business, Woodall Nicholson, has also made a series of acquisitions this year across the UK and Germany.

Following another year of growth, Kids Planet has expanded to 44 nurseries with its first acquisition outside of the North West in March this year.

Neil Inskip, head of BGF’s North West team, said: “Our investments this year and portfolio in the region shows the North West business community is truly world-class.

“We consistently meet entrepreneurs with global ambitions for their products, services and innovations. These are the high-potential businesses which fuel the growth economy.”

He added: “BGF’s role is to provide long-term, flexible capital to support the growth of businesses, based across the North West.

“We’ve continued to invest across a range of sectors from fintech to education, manufacturing and ecommerce – there’s a wealth of opportunity within the region.”

The team also expanded its headcount with the appointment of Spencer Woods and James Marshall to its investment team, as well as Joanne McTiffin, who joined BGF’s talent network, which works with BGF-backed companies to identify potential candidates for non-executive director and chair positions.