Peter Garnham

Peter Garnham built his career in specialised lending and corporate finance, gaining experience in major investment/merchant banks and at the accountancy firm Ernst & Young, with earlier work spanning engineering, project finance and fundraising. Aggregator records list an MBA in International Business from the University of Bradford (1981–82). Companies House shows a long run of Yorkshire-centred investment directorships across the 2000s, including roles connected to YFM Private Equity, Yorkshire Enterprise Ventures, Newable/GCC and Connect Yorkshire, as well as The Kenton Group.

Garnham is most associated with YFM Venture Finance, which he developed as its Managing Director after joining the YFM group around 2001. During this period he also served as a Non-executive Director of two VCT (Venture Capital Trust) funds and of the investment fund of the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) charity — reflecting a focus on channeling capital into growth-stage smaller companies.

In 2012 he joined the team that became British Business Investments — the commercial arm of the British Business Bank — as a "founder member," specifically to help develop the group's debt-finance initiatives. He rose to Director and ultimately Managing Director, and chaired the company's Portfolio Monitoring and Valuation Committee. In that role he helped build BBI from inception into a portfolio with cumulative commitments approaching £1.6 billion (2016/17), generating investment income of £60.5m and pre-tax profit of £55.1m that year. Companies House also records short-lived 2018 directorships at BBB Investment Holdings Limited and British Patient Capital Limited, sister vehicles within the group.

Garnham retired as Managing Director of British Business Investments effective 1 November 2020 and was succeeded by Adam Kelly, who had led the firm's structured capital solutions team.

• Invests as a wholesale / "fund-of-funds" and structured-capital provider, not a direct startup backer: BBI "invests in smaller banks, non-bank lenders and venture capital funds to increase the choice of finance for smaller and medium sized businesses."
• Fully commercial mandate: BBI focuses on "making fully commercial decisions on investments where they meet the group's strategic objectives and offer attractive returns for the taxpayer," and deploys capital *pari passu* alongside institutional and other private investors.
• Four core areas during Garnham's tenure: Direct Lending (private debt funds using senior loans, unitranche, mezzanine and venture debt for companies with revenues up to ~£100m), Structured Capital Solutions (e.g., Tier 2 capital facilities for challenger banks; senior/mezzanine funding for asset-finance providers), FinTech, and Venture Capital.
• Catalysing venture capital was a stated priority — described in BBI's reporting as "so vital in enabling fast-growing smaller businesses to achieve their potential," supported by an extra £400m the government made available at Autumn Statement 2016.
• What makes BBI say yes: an experienced management team, a fundable/scalable financing strategy, commercial returns ahead of shareholder benchmarks, and additionality to the UK SME finance market.