The UK’s most active provider of growth capital to small and mid-sized businesses, BGF (Business Growth Fund), is continuing to expand its team covering the South West with the appointment of James Skade as an investor.
Before joining BGF, James, pictured, spent five years at accountancy group EY, most recently in the corporate finance team.
While there he advised on a number of transactions including the sale of Bath-based specialist systems integrator IPL to major UK IT group Civica and the acquisition of Australian-headquartered manufacturer of containerised tanks and storage systems Transtank by Yate-based storage equipment group Western Global. 
James, who will be based in BGF’s Bristol office, joins its 60-strong nationwide investment team responsible for identifying investment opportunities and managing the deal process from origination through to completion. BGF’s investors also provide support either as board members or observers in the companies they back.
James’ appointment comes just weeks after BGF took on Fiona Gibson as a portfolio specialist from Lloyds Banking Group, where she was head of equity investments, responsible for the bank’s £1.2bn portfolio of more than 250 legacy equity assets.
The appointments follow a record year of investing for BGF. It provided £376m in funding to UK smaller and mid-sized companies in 2016, up from £248m the previous year. A total of 59 deals were transacted in 2016, compared to 31 in 2015.
South regional director Paul Oldham said: “BGF is working with ambitious and talented founders, chief executives and management teams, and we’re focused on expanding our team with like-minded investors. James is a great addition, and we’re delighted to welcome him to the team.”
James added: “BGF continues to make its mark in the investment community following an active 12 months of investing and a number of successful exits. I’m delighted to be joining the team as it continues to seek out and work with some of the UK’s most exciting, growing businesses.”
The companies backed by BGF are privately-owned or listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market, and typically have revenues of between £5m and £100m. BGF makes initial investments of between £2m-£10m and can provide additional funding to support further growth. The investment provided is typically in the form of equity in return for a minority equity stake.
BGF is backed by five of the UK’s main banking groups – Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, RBS and Standard Chartered.
