BGF appoints new investor to Reading team

Published by

Peter Davison

BGF – the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor – has strengthened its Reading team following the appointment of Duncan Wade as investor.

Duncan brings with him 30 years’ experience in corporate finance and working in successful private equity backed companies.

Most recently he was leading the mergers and acquisitions strategy of a global business to business marketing agency.

Duncan was previously managing director of Newbury-based specialist M&A advisory firm BCMS, and before that he spent 11 years at EY in roles including mergers and acquisitions director (primarily focussed on the Thames Valley region) and latterly, Chief Development Officer for UK and Ireland.

Having originally trained as an accountant, Duncan’s first M&A role was acquisitions and business development director for a listed company.

He has also worked as CFO for a 3i funded management buyout from Shell where he led the East European business and was partly located in Poland.

At BGF Duncan is based in the Reading office and will be responsible for all aspects of the investment process across the Thames Valley and Solent regions, from originating and executing new investments to supporting the management teams of portfolio companies and managing exits.

Ned Dorbin, head of BGF’s investment team in Reading, commented: “We’re delighted to welcome Duncan to BGF. He brings a wealth of experience in working with equity-backed companies with different growth strategies, particularly international expansion and M&A.

"Our investor team plays a vital role in identifying exciting and entrepreneurial businesses, ripe for growth. Duncan is an excellent addition to our team – someone who shares our desire to support forward-thinking companies that are eager to scale up with the support of a minority investor firmly focused on taking a patient and long-term outlook to growth.”

BGF recently completed an £8 million investment in Operational Solutions, a leading counter drone technologies business based in Reading.

Other high-profile deals led by the Thames Valley team include a £10.5 million minority investment in cybersecurity business e2e-assure; and a £10 million investment in Polar Technology which manufactures high-performance carbon and metal components for the automotive, medical and aerospace/defence sectors.

Duncan said: “I have known BGF since its inception and have always been impressed by its integrity, culture and focus on true minority growth capital investments.

"I was particularly attracted by the opportunity to work alongside a great team of people, many of whom I already know very well, to combine and leverage the experience I have gained working in M&A and growth capital investment. I am looking forward to supporting the diverse, ambitious businesses we are privileged to have in our region.”

Peter Davison

Peter Davison is deputy editor of The Business Magazine. He has spent his life in journalism – doing work experience in newsrooms in and around Bristol while still at school, and landing his first job on a local newspaper aged 19. By 28 he was the youngest newspaper editor in the country. An early advocate of online news, he spent the first years of the 2000s telling his bosses that the internet posed both the biggest opportunity and greatest threat to the newspaper industry and the art of journalism. He was right on both counts. Since 2006 he has enjoyed a career as a freelance journalist. He lives in rural Wiltshire with one wife, two children, and three cats.