BGF in Highlands first with £5m care home investment

Parklands Group, one of the largest care home providers in the north of Scotland, has secured a £5 million investment to accelerate its growth.

Ron Taylor and Keith Barclay at a proposed site in Inverness. Picture: Trevor Martin

Set up in 1993, in Buckie, by Ron Taylor, the group provides residential care for older people at eight care homes across Moray and the Highlands – the most recent being its newly opened Lynemore home in Grantown-on-Spey.

The investment marks BGF’s first in the Highlands and Moray, having invested more than £200m across 27 businesses in Scotland since 2011. BGF was formerly known by the full name, Business Growth Fund.

The growth capital will be used to support the building of a £4m 40-bed care home in Fortrose and a £6.5m “care hub” in Inverness, comprising a 48-bed care home and 16 assisted living suites.

Ron Taylor, managing director at Parklands, said: “This investment by BGF, one of the world’s leading growth investors, is a major vote of confidence in Parklands. It will help fund our next stage of expansion and enhance the quality of care provision in the Highlands.

“By 2020, we will have invested around £16m on new and expanded care homes, facilities that are much needed in the Highlands.

“Our investment will create hundreds of jobs in the region and deliver a significant boost to the wider economy. It will also ensure that older people can continue to live in their local community, keeping families closer together.”

Keith Barclay, an investor at BGF, said: “We’re really pleased to have made our first investment in a business based in the Highlands and Moray.

“It is a really important part of the country for BGF as there are some great businesses here and we hope it will be the first of many.”