BGF marks £250m of Scottish investment

BGF has invested more than £250 million in Scottish businesses since its formation eight years ago.

BGF's head of central Scotland Paddy Graham cited the huge amount of diversity in the investor's portfolio. Picture: Contributed

The growth investor has now backed 30 new investments in Scotland and provided follow-on funding for existing portfolio companies totalling in excess of £250m.

Its teams in Edinburgh and Aberdeen provided £42m of capital to businesses in 2018, with three new investments.

These included Cumbernauld-based manufacturer Moulded Foams and care home provider Parklands Group, which represented the fund’s first investment in the Highlands and Moray.

It also provided £2.75m in follow-on investment to Glasgow-based Walker Precision Engineering to boost the manufacturer’s site in Poland.

Paddy Graham, head of central Scotland and Northern Ireland at BGF, said: “It’s hugely encouraging that, against such an unpredictable landscape for business, many entrepreneurs and owners continued through 2018 to progress with their growth plans. There is a huge amount of diversity in the portfolio, and we’ve seen some fantastic growth in areas such as housebuilding, manufacturing and technology.

“There will, of course, be some trepidation among the business community as a whole, but we know that there are plenty of companies with real growth potential and ambition and it is vitally important that they have the backing they need. We will continue to support these businesses and are looking ahead to 2019 with optimism as the pipeline is healthy with a number of active discussions ongoing.”