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The expansion of Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Just outside Doncaster is Yorkshire Wildlife Park, home to more than 70 different species. Independent private sector growth investment firm BGF is backing its expansion during the most uncertain economic times since the Second World War. Brian Bollen reports on the YWP, its history and what may be in store in future.

Corporate Financier image YWPJust before the UK entered lockdown in March of 2020, BGF, the most active investor of growth capital into UK SMEs, invested £15m for a hybrid equity-cum-loan-note stake in Yorkshire Wildlife Park (YWP).

The BGF investment was led by Barry Jackson, an investor in its Leeds office. Jackson says YWP really is a great example of the BGF’s approach to deals: a commitment of long-term capital by “an interested, but non-invasive and non-controlling investor”, with no pressure to exit to a specified time frame.