BGF’s North West team has now invested GBP311 million across 34 businesses in the region with GBP59m of that total invested in the past 12 months. New investments included Manchester-headquartered 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 GBP2 billion investment milestone and scooped Deal of the Year (sub GBP10 million) at the 2019 Insider North West Dealmakers Awards. Last month BGF announced a GBP10m 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, says: “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.
“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.
