First Invest in Women Taskforce capital deployment: BGF invests in NI-based CWC Group
BGF, the UK and Ireland’s most active growth capital investor, has made a multi-million-pound investment in CWC Group, a family-owned specialist care provider based in Co Down.
The investment is the first BGF has made into a female-powered business since it committed at least £300 million to the Invest in Women Taskforce’s funding pot to support scaling female-powered businesses over the next five years.
First founded in 1983 by sisters-in-law, Monica Byrne and Imelda McGrady, CWC Group is a healthcare company providing high quality domiciliary, residential nursing and disability care across seven locations throughout Northern Ireland. Based in Co Down, the business continues to be family-run, now operated by Monica’s daughters, chief executive, Aisling Byrne, and chief learning and development officer, Shauna Byrne.
The investment from BGF will support CWC Group’s acquisition of new sites and develop its service offering in specialist care. The company has also welcomed to the Board Paula Kane as non-executive chair and David Jones as non-executive director to provide further expertise as the company scales. Paula was previously founder and CEO of Ashdale Care Ireland and David is an ex-Deloitte UK healthcare partner.
Aisling Byrne CWC Group said: “This investment from BGF comes at an exciting time for CWC Group and will enable us to take the next steps towards developing our care services for our service users and geographical footprint in Northern Ireland. We have a solid pipeline of new specialist care homes that will enable us to further support the NI Trusts with high quality, dedicated care facilities for adults with specialist care needs.
“The investment from BGF alongside the experience and knowhow of our new Board members will support the advancement of our ambitions and retain exceptional levels of care and dedication to our service users that are at the very heart of our core values.”
The pledge to invest in female-led businesses forms part of BGF’s overall commitment to invest £3bn in high-potential businesses across the UK over the next five years.
Chris Nixon, investor at BGF said: “CWC Group has an exceptional heritage of providing high quality care services to those in need. At a time when there is a shortage of quality facilities to meet demand in NI, we’re looking forward to working with Aisling, Shauna and the wider team to expand their care home portfolio and continue to provide a vital service to communities across the province.”
BGF is one of the largest and most experienced growth capital investors in the UK and Ireland, backing entrepreneurs and innovators, typically providing initial investments of between £3 and £30 million in high potential businesses. BGF is the most active investor in female-led scale ups for the past five years and has invested £500 million in these types of business since 2011.