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BGF, formerly the Business Growth Fund, is the UK's most active investment company[1], providing patient capital for small and medium-sized enterprises in the United Kingdom and Ireland.[2]
As of December 2017, the company has invested over £1.3bn of its £2.5bn balance sheet. Notably, BGF has invested over 70% of this total in businesses headquartered outside of London and the South East of England.[3]
The company makes initial investments between £2m to £10m to support companies at various stages of their organizational life cycle. BGF has invested in start-up companies, growth-stage companies and AIM listed companies across every region and sector of the UK economy, barring financial services.[4]
BGF adopts a patient capital investment strategy, which means it takes a minority, non-controlling stake in its equity partners. The company aims to back the long-term goals set by management teams in its investments by forgoing short-term profit expectations in its portfolio
History[edit]
BGF was founded in 2011 by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland and Standard Chartered banks, in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis.[6] The investment company was established to provide small-to-medium sized businesses with financial investment, which were otherwise under-served by the traditional set of finance and private equity firms.
In 2015, BGF launched BGF Quoted, which specialises in investments in publicly listed companies. The fund makes investments between £1 million and £10 million in value, in exchange for a minority shareholding.[7]
In 2016, BGF launched BGF Ventures, which is a fund dedicated to early-stage companies with smaller revenues. The fund makes investments of between £1 million and £6 million, whilst maintaining a minority, non-controlling stake