BGF announces further investment in SPEX Group Holdings Limited

23 January 2019: Aberdeen-headquartered SPEX Group Holdings Limited (“SPEX Group”) has secured a multi-million pound follow-on investment from its management team and BGF, the UK’s most active investor in growing businesses, to accelerate growth. BGF originally invested £5m in February 2014 to support the company’s expansion in international markets.

SPEX Group’s subsidiaries provide specialist explosive products and services to the oil and gas industry, including for downhole cutting, punching and abandonment.

Various SPEX Group subsidiaries have rapidly developed as leading specialist developers of downhole and subsea explosive products, developing a range of technology solutions for the oil and gas industry utilising a variety of engineering capabilities, including computational fluid dynamics and finite element analysis. Other subsidiaries provide downhole cutting services to oil and gas operators using explosive products, as well as providing specialist explosive advisory services.

With an evergreen balance sheet, BGF can provide significant further funding as companies in its portfolio continue to grow. BGF’s follow-on investment in SPEX Group will be used to support opportunities to innovate and develop specialised explosive solutions and services.

James Oag, CEO of SPEX Group, said: “This investment will help SPEX Group to support innovative solutions to some of the biggest challenges facing the oil and gas industry. We’ve increased the offering to ensure that SPEX Group continues to support opportunities that deliver solutions that improve safety, integrity and production, while enhancing and protecting the clients’ reputation and optimising their assets.

“I am really excited about the next stage of growth and pleased to have BGF continuing to back SPEX Group.”

Mike Sibson, an investor in BGF’s Aberdeen office, said: “We’re really proud of the progress that the team at SPEX Group has achieved over the past few years. We are always keen to continue to support our portfolio companies to deliver growth over the long term, and we are delighted to invest alongside Jamie and the team to continue development of a really exciting business.”

BGF’s Aberdeen office was established in 2012 and the team has since committed more than £120m across 14 businesses through a combination of new and follow-on investments for portfolio companies.