Business Growth Fund (BGF), established by Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander, Standard Chartered and the British Bankers’ Association, has invested £6m in Petrotechnics, a Scotland-based provider of software solutions for managing operational risk and performance in hazardous industries.
This is BGF’s fifth investment in the oil and gas sector and brings the current total invested in Scottish small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to £30m.
BGF’s £6m funding will support the next stage in Petrotechnics’ growth strategy, enabling expansion into new geographies, recruitment of more people, and ongoing investment in the software products.
Mike Sibson, BGF investment director, said: “Petrotechnics has demonstrated its ability to deliver complex software solutions to major oil and gas companies throughout the world. There is an increased priority on the management of operational risk and safety in hazardous industries, with several major incidents over the last decade demonstrating the potential consequences of poor control of work. The investment is a great fit for BGF, which was established to invest growth capital in the UK’s ambitious SMEs.”
Phil Murray, chief executive officer of Petrotechnics, said: “We are delighted to have BGF join the team and we look forward to their guidance and contributions in taking our company to the next level of growth. We believe there is a big opportunity for customers to significantly improve their operational performance and improve how they manage operational risk.”
Advisers to the transaction were AAB, KPMG, Burness, Paull & Williamsons, Raeburns and Intuitus.