BGF has announced that current chief investment officer Andy Gregory is set to be promoted to chief executive from September.
Executive chair Stephen Welton will also step up to non-executive chair from the start of next year.
This is the culmination of a process designed and delivered by an independent leadership advisory panel working with the board of BGF and its shareholders over the last three years.
Gregory has held the investment chief role since May 2021 and before that was head of investments for the UK and Ireland since January 2020.
During this time, BGF has experienced a record period of investment and exit activity.
Gregory has been with BGF since 2011, joining as regional director for the North of England. Before that, he held senior roles in the private equity, industry including at LivingBridge and Bridgepoint.
Welton was appointed founding chief executive of BGF in 2011 and under his leadership the equity investor has grown from a start-up to become the most active growth capital houses in the country, with more than £3bn invested across over 400 companies by a regional network of 16 offices.
During this time, Welton has also served as a member of the Treasury’s Patient Capital Review, the council of Innovate UK, and the prime minister’s business advisory council.
Prior to BGF, he was one of the founding partners of the global private equity firm CCMP Capital - formerly JP Morgan Partners - and managing director of Barclays Private Equity and Henderson Ventures, which he also co-founded.
BGF has also just declared its maiden dividend of £30m to its shareholders: HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest and Standard Chartered.
In line with original objectives to create a self-sustaining investment platform over the long term, BGF has not drawn on committed shareholder capital since June 2021, with cash realisations now funding investment activity which will allow excess returns to be returned to shareholders going forward.
Last year, BGF delivered a total cash return of £571m from exits - up from £233m in 2020 - equivalent to an average two times money multiple and a 23.4% gross internal rate of return.
Returns from 22 exits in the first half of 2022 continued this trend, with £391m realised and a gross internal rate of return of 23%. Pre-tax profit in 2021 was £404m.
Welton said: “From a standing start in 2011 and spurred on by the global financial crisis, BGF’s leadership, shareholders, regulators and other stakeholders envisaged a new equity investment platform that would deliver long-term value creation and patient capital, supporting entrepreneurs on a local basis right across the country.
“After more than a decade of executive leadership, I am delighted to take on the role of non-executive chair and welcome Andy Gregory as incoming chief executive.
“I will remain a champion of fostering the BGF culture and efforts to support a more diverse and inclusive investment environment, with a strong focus on ESG and the scaling of BGF’s charitable foundation.”
Gregory said: “BGF holds a unique position in the investment industry, which it has established thanks to the hard work of a highly skilled team, Stephen’s unwavering leadership and the support of our shareholders.
“We will continue to drive forward our investment activity and deliver exits that create long-term value for the entrepreneurs we back, as well as for our shareholders.”
To support the new leadership structure, new appointments have been made to BGF’s executive committee, effective 1 January 2023. These include Richard Taylor, head of growth, Ben Barker, head of portfolio, and Cate Poulson, head of talent network, who will all join Andy Gregory, Claire Lamb and Matt Reed.
Patrick Graham, head of Scotland and Northern Ireland, Neil Inskip, head of north west and Midlands, and Ned Dorbin, head of south west and Wales, will join the current members of the committee.
Graham said: “I’m delighted to be joining BGF’s investment committee, the central engine for the firm’s investment decision making.
“BGF generated strong deal flow in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the first half of 2022 with exit activity delivering a 3.5x return off four exits.
“We are looking forward to continuing our investment momentum in the second half of the year.”
BGF is a minority, non-controlling equity partner with a patient outlook on investments, based on shared long-term goals with the management teams it backs.
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