
BGF and NVM invest £10m in Wear Inns
The Business Growth Fund (BGF) and previous backer NVM Private Equity have invested a joint £10m in UK pub chain Wear Inns.
BGF contributed £8m to the round in exchange for a minority stake, with NVM providing the remaining £2m. The latter has backed the business since inception in 2006 and now has £6.2m of capital invested in the business.
This is the second co-investment out of eight deals completed since inception for BGF, which has often been criticised for bringing unfair competition to traditional growth equity providers. BGF previously took part in a $25m funding round for UK-based social media business Unruly, alongside Amadeus Capital Partners and Van den Ende & Deitmers.
Wear Inns will use the fresh capital to acquire new sites in the coming months and hire up to 40 new staff. It was introduced to the deal with BGF by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Company
Established in 2006, Wear Inns buys and manages freehold community pubs across the North East and Yorkshire. Wear Inns is based in Billingham, currently operates 15 sites and employs 175 staff. The business generates net revenues of £7.3m.
People
David Colclough led the deal for BGF, while NVM was represented by Mauro Biagioni. BGF will join the company's board.
Advisers
Equity – Addleshaw Goddard (Legal); Dickinson Dees (Legal).
Vendor – KPMG (Financial due diligence).
Company – Watson Burton (Legal).
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