Investment approach
Our offer to UK businesses is about more than just money. We want to reach out to all entrepreneurial and growing companies. Our mission: to help build the next generation of world class UK companies.
Our ambition is nothing less than creating the household business names and listed companies of tomorrow.
Successful companies are created by successful people – talented, hard-working, creative, ambitious and dynamic entrepreneurs. Business men and women who have a real understanding of what their customers need, offering fantastic products and services.
Our job is to support talented management teams and business leaders achieve their full potential by offering three magic ingredients for success:
- Substantial capital
- Superb contacts; and
- Sound counsel.
From the outset Business Growth Fund will be a significant and influential UK investment company, with offices across the country. We will have a strong network of contacts locally, regionally and UK-wide. Companies that are part of the BGF family will benefit from our cash, our expertise and our networks.
As a long-term equity investor, BGF will support its portfolio companies financially, operationally, and strategically. We can help you develop a growth strategy that is organic, achieved via acquisition, or both.
Unlocking opportunities for your business
Other financial backers will feel more confident and more willing to back businesses that have already met BGF’s investment criteria and due diligence. Securing investment and partnership from a high profile institution like BGF could unlock new sources of finance for our investee companies. Securing investment and partnership from BGF will also help with customers, suppliers, employees and other stakeholders.
In addition to having excellent relationships with its five shareholding banks, BGF will forge strong links with other investors and investment bodies across the UK, including venture capital trusts and private equity firms. We are also keen to form strategic partnerships with angel investors offering sector-specific knowledge and experience. We will work with organisations like the British Business Angels Association to look for mutually beneficial opportunities.
Our investment focus
We are interested in sectors of the economy that have long-term and significant potential for growth. We are particularly interested in high-tech manufacturing, software and electronics, leisure and tourism, retail, renewable energy and cleantech, healthcare and life sciences, industrial and business services, outsourcing, and digital businesses.
However, we will also support businesses with strong credentials in other sectors. Each company will be judged on its individual merits, not by sector. For us, long-term potential is the key.
Business Growth Fund will:
- Invest around £2 million to £10 million in return for an equity stake in the business and a seat on the board
- Invest in established UK companies that can demonstrate a strong growth trajectory
- Have enough capital and resources at hand to move very quickly for the right opportunities
- Offer longer-term funding over five to seven years or more, investing off its own balance sheet
- Develop a partnership approach with investee businesses, agreeing shared goals and objectives from the outset
- Look for businesses with evidence of a strong track record and demonstrable growth potential
- Carry out targeted due diligence in a cost-effective and timely manner; and
- Consider investment opportunities and businesses in all sectors apart from financial services and real estate.
