People: Equistone continues to grow UK investment team with appointment in Birmingham; Board hire for listed carpet manufacturer; and more

Equistone, the mid-market private equity investors, has recruited Will Copeland as investment manager in its Birmingham office.

He joins Paul Harper and Phil Griesbach, both partners in Equistone’s Birmingham office.

The appointment further strengthens Equistone’s origination and investment capabilities in the UK market, as well as bolstering the firm’s longstanding presence in the Midlands and nationwide.

Copeland joins Equistone from the Business Growth Fund where he worked as an investor for three years, with responsibility for the full investment process from origination, through execution, to portfolio management and exit. Prior to this he worked at PwC for five years, both in the London audit team and in the deals team in Birmingham.

There he worked on a number of buy-side, sell-side, and refinancing transactions for institutional investors and privately-owned businesses.

Harper said: “We’re delighted that Will is joining Equistone, further enhancing our ability to identify, execute, manage, and successfully exit investments.

“Will’s deep local market relationships and experience in executing all aspects of a transactions adds great value to the team’s capabilities and demonstrates our continuing long-term commitment to the Midlands’ market.”

:::

Carpet manufacturer Victoria has appointed Zachary Sternberg to the board as non-executive director.

Sternberg is the co-founder of The Spruce House Partnership, a private investment partnership based in New York with $3 billion of assets under management, which seeks to invest alongside and support management teams that are focussed on growing the per share value of their companies over the very long-term.  Spruce House has a 14.8% shareholding in Victoria.

Geoff Wilding, executive chairman of Victoria, said: “Spruce House has one of the best long-term investment records I know of and I am delighted to welcome Zach to the Board of Victoria.  He brings his extensive knowledge of capital markets as well as his perspective as a material shareholder and he strongly supports the Group’s strategy, which is designed to maximise the per share value of Victoria over the long term through both organic and acquisitive growth.”

Sternberg added: “Under the leadership of Geoff and the executive team, Victoria has built on its over 100-year legacy to become one of the largest and fastest growing flooring businesses in Europe.  Geoff’s record of growing cash flow per share over 40% annually since becoming chairman is truly remarkable.  Spruce House looks forward to continuing to support Victoria over the long-term as it takes advantage of the extraordinary opportunity to grow its existing operations and acquire companies across Europe’s very fragmented flooring industry.”