BGF ready to increase deals activity
BUSINESS Growth Fund is preparing to ramp-up its deal activity in the North West according to regional director Andy Gregory.
This will mean four more hires to the six-strong Northern team, which has just opened an office at Tower 12, Spinningfields in Manchester.
Last night around 80 people attended a launch party, not at the new office but at Barburrito – the Manchester food business it has invested in.
Mr Gregory, who said BGF has a “very exciting pipeline” of deals, said nationally the fund will have done around 20 deals this year and will do 35 deals next year.
He said: “For us it (the market) is a great place to be as we are having lots of positive conversations with growing businesses.
“In the North we have done four deals already and will hopefully complete another this financial year. I think the market is understanding how different our offering is – we are not competing with private equity.”
The Business Growth Fund was launched last year backed by £2.5bn from major banks. Launched as part of wider efforts to improve lending to business, the organisation provides capital of between £2m and £10m in profitable businesses with turnovers of between £5m and £100m in return for minority stakes in businesses of between 10% and 40%.
Mr Gregory added that BGF was in it “for the long term” and would be comfortable keeping its investment in portfolio companies for 10 years or more. The Fund is backed by Barclays, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Lloyds and RBS.
