BGF has exited its investment in Fife-headquartered house builder Campion Homes.
Having initially invested a multimillion sum in 2016, the exit follows a strong period for Campion Homes, with it trebling in size taking turnover from £14.6m to over £45m.
The company is utilising its profit growth and strong cash generation over BGF’s hold period to buy out the position in full.
Campion Homes is a family-owned business that has been constructing homes across East Central Scotland for over 30 years. The business has completed 2,300 homes across Fife, the Lothians, Clackmannanshire and Perth & Kinross since 1989, with 160 direct employees and a base of suppliers and sub-contractors.
The business now has a "robust balance sheet" and strong pipeline of sites - recently beginning a development at Oak Bank, Glenrothes, with viewings expected to open on a new collection of homes in Crieff in September.
Peter Bell, executive chair at Campion Homes, said: “BGF has been a great partner for us over the last six years, sharing our pride and passion for the quality of build that sets apart a Campion built home.
“Our business has gone from strength to strength, with the BGF funding used to deliver even more quality homes across East Central Scotland.”
Euan Baxter, investor at BGF, said: “Campion Homes is a fantastic business that has a tremendously positive impact on the local economy in terms of the number of jobs it supports.
“This deal demonstrates BGF’s flexibility on exit routes, and we wish the whole team well for the future and look forward to seeing the business continuing its positive trajectory.”
BGF was set up in 2011 and has invested over £3bn in more than 460 companies, making it the most active investor in the UK. It is a minority, non-controlling equity partner, with a patient outlook on investments.
BGF recently reported strong deal flow in Scotland and Northern Ireland in the first half of 2022, with close to £25m invested into growing businesses, while exit activity has delivered a 3.5x return off four exits.
Since the turn of the year, the team has completed a £1.6m investment in Inverness medical tech firm Aiber, while Glasgow-headquartered Scottish Dental Care received a multi-million-pound minority investment to implement its growth plans.
In the North East of Scotland, BGF led an £8m investment round into Aberdeen-based biopharmaceutical company Elasmogen, to support its development pipeline of next-generation drugs.
As BGF’s Scottish portfolio continues to mature, there have been four exits/partial exits in the first half of the year, with a combined enterprise value of over £260m. These have returned £63m on £18m invested, representing a return on investment of 3.5x. This includes CSN Care Group, Inoapps, Aubin and a partial exit from Calnex.
Patrick Graham, BGF’s head of Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “After a record 2021, where BGF’s Scotland and Northern Ireland team invested almost £60m, it is particularly pleasing to see this momentum continued through a diverse range of significant deals.
“As well as new investments, we also recorded four successful Scottish exits, which serve as a reminder of the important journey we go on with our portfolio companies as they scale.”
BGF’s existing portfolio companies in Scotland have also continued to perform well in the first half of 2022. Dundee tech firm Waracle saw its sales increase by nearly £12m, Paint Shed opened its eighteenth store in March - with another to follow in summer - and independent coffee and food chain Bob & Berts is set to open its sixth Scottish site at the end of July - similarly with further expansion expected to follow.
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