Downing has appointed Richard Lewis as an investment director focusing on its growth capital portfolio.
He joins from Radius Equity, where he headed up the investment team which raised money from high net worth investors on a deal by deal basis.
Prior to this Lewis spent nine years working in the principal investment arm of Mitsui & Co where he completed a number of growth capital investments in the UK, US and Israel.
Kostas Manolis, partner, says: “We are delighted to welcome Richard into the Downing team. In Richard’s most recent role he was focussed on making investments in high-potential, early-stage companies and profitable, high-growth, small and medium enterprises, across a range of sectors. His skills and experience are a perfect fit that will undoubtedly bolster Downing’s growth investment capability.”
Dowing’s growth capital team seeks to invest GBP1 million to GBP5 million into UK companies run by strong management teams that want to maintain control and continue to grow their businesses rapidly.
Manolis says: “Richard will be working predominantly on our growth capital portfolio, which includes our newly launched Downing FOUR venture capital trust (VCT) which aims to support the growth of small UK companies while offering investors access to VCT tax reliefs.”
