People: Private equity house gets new Leeds partner; Northern regional chief hired at housebuilders and more

JAMES HALL has been promoted to partner level at the Leeds office of private equity house Key Capital Partners.

Having started at the business a year ago, Mr Hall will now work alongside partners Owen Trotter and Peter Armitage to source investment opportunities in the form of Northern SMEs.

The team specialises in the smaller buyout market, backing businesses with £3m to £15m of equity finance to fund MBOs, equity release and development capital deals.

Mr Hall has 17 years’ experience in the sector and has held positions at Royal Bank Development Capital, ISIS Equity Partners and NorthEdge Capital.

KCP investment partner Peter Armitage said: “As an experienced PE investor, James has proved a valuable asset to the team.

“We now have a number of potential deals in the pipeline and his expertise will be instrumental in helping us to give these entrepreneurial businesses the operational support, in addition to the funding they need, in order to grow and develop further.”

KCP has offices in Leeds and London.

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A REGIONAL chief executive has been appointed at Redrow Homes.

Warren Thompson, previously managing director of the Yorkshire housing division of Redrow will now oversee three divisions covering Yorkshire, Lancashire and the remaining parts of the North West and Wales.

Mr Thompson joined Redrow two years ago from Avant Homes and has grown the business particularly in the ‘Golden Triangle’ between York, Leeds and Harrogate.

John Tutte, Group chief executive for Redrow, which has its headquarters at St David’s Park, Flintshire, said: “Warren’s promotion is well deserved and is one of a number of senior management changes designed to ensure we can meet the demands of an expanding business. In the two years he has been with us, Warren has impressed with his management style and the results achieved, he will be an asset to our Executive Board.”

Earlier this year it was also announced that Redrow had been chosen to deliver up to 300 new homes at Thorpe Park, in East Leeds, a joint venture between Scarborough Group International and Legal & General Capital.

Midlands recruit James Pynor will take on Mr Thompson’s former role. He joins from Countrywide plc where he was group residential development director.

Previous Northern regional chief executive Matthew Pratt remains in a similar post but now overseeing Redrow’s South Midlands, South East, Eastern and Southern Counties housing divisions.

***VEHICLE tracking firm RAM Tracking has hired a new finance director James Monks.

Mr Monks has joined after 18 years’ experience in the automotive industry.

James Monks said: “Both revenue and profit have significantly increased over the previous year, with a very strong order book for the start of the new financial year.”

“We have just completed the year to Sept-16, and it is another year of significant and sustained profitable growth. Every month shows considerable growth over the last, with September being an all-time record sales month. Both revenue and profit have significantly increased over the previous year, with a very strong order book for the start of the new financial year. “