YFM Investment Managers speak to the UKBAA about ‘The New Normal’

This week Helen Villiers and Aaron Lowery gave an interview to UK Business Angels Association (UKBAA) to discuss how YFM Equity Partners are adapting during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Helen Villiers, an Investment Manager based in London, spoke about how YFM have continued to look at new investments in recent months:

“YFM still has appetite for new investments, we’re just having to change our approach, with less face to face meetings and increased usage of platforms such as Teams and Zoom. Processes are running a little slower, advisors are generally taking more of a cautious approach and the volume of new opportunities has fallen, but there are still a lot of good businesses out there looking for investment that we are definitely open to meeting.”

Aaron Lowery, an Investment Manager in the Leeds office, highlighted people as a key focus for YFM:

“The strength of the management team is very important for us; we look for teams who have the capability to scale a business and have a well-thought out business plan. Particularly at a time like this, we understand that not everything is going to go to plan, but if you have a good team and a good business then there is usually a way to adapt and continue to grow. As a regional investor, we invest a lot of time getting to know the management teams that we will be working with. During a process we would usually have quite a few meetings with the team, understandably this has been a bit more challenging recently, but with video calls and virtual meetings, we’re managing to make things work.”

Read the full interview with Helen and Aaron on the UK Business Angels Association website here.