Aberdeen team show Spirit with MBO
THE senior executives of the former private equity team of Aberdeen Asset Management announced the successful completion of a management buyout to create a new independent private equity business, Spirit Capital.
Spirit Capital Partners has been established by Francesco Santinon, supported by fellow partners Andy Glennon and Colin Stirling.
Industry veteran Graham Dewhirst, former partner and head of investor relations at Bridgepoint, will join the new business as chairman.
A further seven executives from the former Aberdeen private equity team have transferred to the new entity. The business will continue to operate nationally from offices in London and Leeds.
The team in Leeds will cover the whole of the North and remain in the existing offices in Sovereign Street.
The Aberdeen Growth Capital operation in Manchester will remain part of the Aberdeen group while Manchester-based Johnathan Massey is moving to the Spirit Capital office in Leeds.
Spirit Capital has assumed the management of around £100m of private capital from Aberdeen and will continue to work with the current portfolio of investments.
Spirit Capital backs established management teams to acquire businesses valued at between £10m and £50m in those sectors demonstrating the key attributes of growth and underlying resilience including environmental, specialist industrial services and healthcare.
The buyout follows on from a very active period for the business both in terms of investments and sales. Recent investments include land regeneration specialist EDSR, oil and environmental services provider Adler & Allan and the independent fleet performance improvement business FMG Support.
During the same period, the business exited coachbuilder Plaxton and aerospace composite manufacturer Brookhouse, both to strategic trade buyers, each achieving attractive returns for investors.
Francesco Santinon, managing partner of Spirit Capital, said: “Completion of the buyout provides us with the opportunity to assume an independent status which will be beneficial for all parties particularly our investors and is generally now preferred by those who actively invest in private equity.
“We are very proud of the track record we created over recent years as part of Aberdeen and now look forward to continuing to enhance our position in the UK lower mid-market.”
Mr Dewhirst, chairman of Spirit Capital, said: “I have been very impressed by the drive and vision of Francesco and his team and look forward to using my experience to support this further.
“The lower mid-market segment of the UK private equity market has perhaps suffered from a reducing number of focused managers in recent years and therefore I believe investors and management teams alike will be attracted to Spirit Capital’s offering.”
Mr Stirling added: “There is a change of name and independence, but it is business as usual. We will be managing the same portfolio and have the same investment criteria. We very firmly believe there is a real gap in the market for deals of under £50m and this is what we will be concentrating on.”
