Equistone refocuses UK deals team to services and smart industrial sectors
Equistone’s Manchester-based partners Steve O’Hare and Andi Tomkinson are to form part of a wider UK and Netherlands focused team targeting “mid-market” businesses with EBITDA of £10m-25m+ and enterprise values of up to £400m+.
The Manchester team will focus on tech-enabled Business Services and ‘Smart Industrials’ (i.e. high-tech value-added manufacturing) sectors.
Equistone deal team in the UK and the Netherlands has deployed over £1bn into these two target sectors in recent years, delivering 3.8x multiple on exits.
The shift in strategy from a pan-European model follows discussions with funders in Limited Partnerships to ‘reboot’ its live fundraise process and orientate to raising two separate UK (plus Dutch) and French mid-market funds.
The last recorded regional deal was in January 2025 when Equistone supported its portfolio company, QuestGates, the UK’s largest independent provider of complex loss adjusting and claims solutions, with the acquisitions of Toppings Forensic Accountants and Brownsword Group.
The transactions are the first announced by QuestGates since Equistone invested in the company in September 2024.
Both based in Manchester, Brownsword provides claims investigation services in the motor industry to insurance companies, while is a provider of forensic accounting for motor claims in the UK.
