Graphite Capital

Graphite has an exceptionally strong track record of acquiring and rolling out successful retail concepts.

We took Game, Ottakar's and Paperchase from an early stage to a public listing or trade sale. Our investment in Maplin was multiplied by 10 on its disposal to a secondary buy-out, which won us a 'Deal of the Year' award. We sold Jane Norman to financial buyers, following its rapid growth under our ownership. In 2008 we acquired Kurt Geiger for UK and international expansion. Despite the recession, Kurt Geiger more than doubled its profit under our ownership and was acquired by a US trade buyer in 2011.

Our investments cover all distribution channels - online, high street and shopping centre stores, concessions, mail order, wholesale, franchise - and stages of the supply chain, from design and sourcing to manufacturing and distribution. Building on this broad experience, we are seeking to back brands with the potential to gain market share regardless of the strength of the economy and consumer spending.

Graphite has a long history of successfully growing businesses across the broad industrial sector in a variety of end user markets.

Over the past 30 years Graphite has successfully backed a large number of industrial companies. Denison, a manufacturer of hydraulic valves and pumps, was floated on NASDAQ, generating a return of 12 times our initial investment. LS Group and Applied Energy, both manufacturers of building materials, were successfully sold to trade acquirers, generating returns of 6.0 and 4.0 times our investment respectively. Our largest current investment in the sector is U-POL, a manufacturer of refinishing products for the automotive aftermarket.

Graphite targets growing companies with market leading positions and a proven tack record of success in their sector. Over the past few years we have successfully invested in a variety of specialist manufacturing businesses, including in the automotive, building materials, chemical and medical devices markets. We have generated strong returns from investing throughout the economic cycle. 

Graphite Capital has a strong track record of acquiring and developing services businesses, especially in the 'human capital' and distribution sub-sectors.

Our successful realisations include Huntress, which returned 7.6 times cost, Computacenter, 13.0 times cost, and GoPlant, 4.2 times cost.

We are currently developing NES Group, a global technical recruitment company, and Alexander Mann Solutions, the global leader in recruitment process outsourcing. We are also supporting the buy-and-build growth strategies of Micheldever Tyre Services, the UK's largest tyre distributor, and of Teaching Personnel, a leading provider of education staff, which acquired Protocol Education, a large competitor, folliwing Graphite's investment.

Our investments have covered most sub-segments of the services and distribution sector's, including property and facilities management, business process outsourcing and staffing. We look for strong management teams in companies with a differentiated proposition in defensible markets. Despite the challenging economic environment, we believe that a number of segments of the broader service industry display these characteristics and benefit from favourable macro trends.

Graphite was one of the first private equity investors in financial services, completing eight deals in the sector over the past 20 years.

Our successful investments include Hiscox, Intermediate Capital Group, Sharelink, Stalwart and Denplan. In 1999, we completed the public-to-private management buy-out of Steel Burrill Jones, a niche insurance broker. We restructured and developed the business further and sold it to a financial buyer in 2001 generating a return of 3.4 times cost. We built PIFC before selling to a trade buyer.

Many of our successful financial services investments have been made during periods of economic uncertainty, capitalising on the dislocation in financial markets to acquire counter-cyclical companies. We believe that the current environment offers exciting opportunities to back strong management teams in niche markets, such as wealth management, insurance and consumer finance.

Graphite has an extensive track record of successfully investing in the healthcare sector. Over the past 20 years, we have completed 11 transactions in the sector, spanning both care services and medical devices.

Over the past decade we have backed a number of elderly care home groups including Avery Healthcare, Ridgmont and Clearminster. These businesses grew successfully, both by making acquisitions and organically. In the homecare sector, we successfully disposed of Clinovia to a trade buyer, having trebled the operating profit under our ownership. Our investments in Alliance Medical and Summit Medical, both devices businesses, achieved returns of over three times cost. More recently, we backed the nationwide rollout of sk:n, a chain of non-cosmetic skin treatment clinics.

We believe that the UK healthcare market offers strong growth opportunities for private companies, driven by demographic trends, government policy, changing models of service provision and technological advances. We have a strong understanding of the changing dynamics of the UK healthcare sectors through our broad investment experience to date. We aim to back businesses which put care or clinical excellence at the heart of their operations.

We won the Health Investor 2009 'Investor of the Year' award in recognition of our long-term track record in the sector.

Graphite has a long track record of investing in a variety of leisure and property businesses.

Under our ownership, Wagamama grew from two restaurants to over 100 around the world, generating a return of over 10 times our original investment upon its sale to a financial buyer in 2011. In 2003, we led the development funding for the UK roll-out of Golden Tulip Hotels, which was sold to Whitbread plc in 2007. We currently own a range of leisure and property investments including Park Holidays UK, The Groucho Club, The Third Space and London Square.

We have significant experience of investing across a wide range of leisure segments with a focus on restaurants, health and fitness, travel and accommodation. In our experience, leisure sector opportunities often have a strong property element. Our knowledge of the property market, combined with our track record in the consumer and retail sectors, gives us a wider perspective from which to assess those opportunities.