BGF has appointed Tracy Bownes as Head of Value Creation. Tracy joins from LDC, where she was a Partner. She will lead BGF’s 10-strong Value Creation team, which provides tailored support to accelerate growth and drive value across the portfolio. In her new role, Tracy will join BGF’s Investment Committee and Investment Leadership Team.
With over 25 years’ experience in M&A and commercial leadership, Tracy has worked on more than 30 private equity investments. Her previous roles include senior leadership at Lumon, where she scaled the business as Chief Commercial Officer, and directorships at Moneycorp, BCIS, Sedex and IGG. She also spent time at the RBS Special Opportunities Fund, where she focused on implementing growth strategies across a range of portfolio businesses.
Tracy Bownes, Head of Value Creation at BGF, said: “With one of the most extensive and diverse portfolios in the UK and Ireland, BGF offers an exceptional platform to help companies develop and scale. Our ability to provide tailored support, aligned to each company’s unique value creation plan, is an exciting opportunity, and will make use of the commercial skills and experience I’ve built working with high-growth UK SMEs.
“I’m looking forward to working closely with management teams, employees, customers and suppliers, to unlock the growth potential in their respective businesses and markets. Together with BGF’s wider Value Creation team, we’ll continue the great work of supporting entrepreneurs as a minority investor, to generate good growth across the economy.”
BGF’s Value Creation team partners with portfolio companies to unlock long-term value, offering access to one of the UK and Ireland’s most extensive networks of business leaders, operational specialists and sector experts. This combination of patient, minority capital and hands-on support aims to help ambitious companies to accelerate growth, navigate complexity and build resilience, while contributing to stronger, more sustainable financial performance.
Through BGF’s Scale programme and platform, portfolio companies benefit from being part of the BGF community, with curated events, knowledge-sharing platforms, networking opportunities and the support of the BGF team.
Ben Barker, Head of Portfolio at BGF, added: “Value creation is at the centre of BGF’s model and a defining part of the way we support entrepreneurs. It’s an approach that has already driven excellent outcomes for entrepreneurs — helping businesses enhance their enterprise value — and delivered strong returns for BGF. Tracy’s appointment brings additional expertise and leadership to this important function, ensuring we continue to generate impact across our portfolio, as demonstrated in the success of our recent exit activity, where value creation has played such a pivotal role.”
