BGF (Business Growth Fund) is continuing to expand its team across the North of England with the appointment of Rob Johnson who will be based in the firm’s Leeds office.
Johnson joins BGF from Deloitte where he worked across mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and restructuring. Johnson joins BGF’s 60-strong nationwide investment team responsible for identifying investment opportunities and managing the deal process from origination through to completion. BGF’s investors also provide support either as board members or observers in the companies they back.
BGF has also announced the appointment of Pinesh Mehta who will be based in the firm’s Manchester office. Before joining BGF Pinesh spent 11 years at KPMG including eight years in the corporate finance team in Manchester where he advised vendors, private equity and management teams on a range of mid-market M&A transactions.
BGF has become the UK’s most active provider of growth capital, having made more than 100 investments since 2011. Drawing from its GBP2.5 billion investment pot, BGF has backed 20 businesses across the North of England including Chemoxy, Cussins and Altec Engineering in the North East and Xercise4less, Moda in Pelle and VTL in Yorkshire. BGF recently announced its first exit following an MBO at York Mailing, a business it backed in 2013.
Andy Gregory, BGF’s regional director for the North, North Wales and Northern Ireland, says: “Rob’s appointment gives us additional coverage to evaluate and complete even more investment opportunities in Yorkshire and the North East following what has been a particularly active period in these regions.”
Johnson says: “BGF continues to back high-quality businesses and has firmly established itself as a critical part of the funding community in the North. BGF’s deep pockets and flexible, minority stake approach is proving to be an attractive offering for many business and I’m excited to now be contributing towards the growth of BGF itself.”
