Graphite was offered the opportunity to invest in the start-up of Bridgewell. The company’s founders had identified strong potential to fill a gap in the market for quality brokerage and corporate finance advice to small-caps.

Bridgewell was formed to acquire the corporate finance division of Singer & Friedlander, a London-based merchant bank, through a management buy-out. The management team was using this as a platform for building a broader mid-market financial services business. Based on its knowledge of the financial services sector, Graphite was invited to participate in a private placing of shares, which raised £10 million of development capital to finance expansion following completion of the buy-out.

Bridgewell had the opportunity to build a broad, mid-market, financial services business in a sector vacated by larger financial institutions and to create competitive advantage through specialist advice and strong research capabilities. The business quickly established a multi-sector customer base with significant repeat revenue. We backed an experienced management team with a strong vision of the opportunities available within the UK corporate finance sector and the ability to attract top quality staff by offering equity incentives.

Under Graphite's ownership, Bridgewell:

widened its sector coverage and developed a strong research base in key sectors
significantly increased the proportion of recurring revenues from retained client relationships
launched its broking operation through the acquisition of Gilbert Eliott & Co, an agency broker specialising in equity sales and research
further expanded its operations with the acquisition of the broking arm of R W Baird
considerably grew turnover and operating profit, before listing on AIM in 2006

Following the AIM listing in 2006, Graphite’s shares were acquired by Landsbanki in 2007 at a considerable premium to their subscription price.