Financial Services

Graphite has 30 years' experience of investing in the Financial Services sector

Until 2016 Graphite managed a top-performing listed investment company with over 25,000 retail shareholders. Building on this experience of managing a financial services business facing regulatory, operational and economic challenges, we became one of the first private equity firms to invest in the sector. Our knowledge of consumer-facing and outsourcing businesses also provides us with valuable insights into the challenges faced by the sector today.

We believe that the changing nature of financial services businesses – driven by technology, increased regulation, greater specialisation and increased self-investing – offers exciting investment opportunities, particularly in insurance and wealth management, and in providing outsourcing or consulting services to the sector. We have invested across a wide range of businesses, including insurance, stockbroking, specialist lending, fund management, pensions and employee benefits. We have generated consistently high returns in the sector, with successful realisations including Sharelink (7.4x cost), ICG (5.5x), BAS (5.3x), SBJ (3.4x), Stalwart (2.9x) and PIFC (2.6x).