NorthEdge has made a series of appointments and promotions across its Manchester and Leeds offices.
The lower mid-market private equity specialist, which manages more than GBP900 million of funds, has promoted Partner Prem Mohan Raj to Chief Operating Officer. Prem joined the business in 2016 as Chief Financial Officer and has since played a key part in the firm’s success. His new role will see him take on increased responsibility for Investor Relations and fundraising alongside his responsibilities for finance, operations and marketing.
NorthEdge’s Manchester office has also appointed John Hammond as Director in the Portfolio team. Hammond has extensive experience working alongside NorthEdge during his tenure as Managing Director of East Coast Concepts. In his new role he will be responsible for managing investments and driving value creation, initially taking on board responsibility for Future Industrial Services and Prohire.
Meanwhile Kathy Hobbs joins the private equity firm as Head of ESG. Kathy joins having recently completed her MBA at Alliance Manchester Business School. She brings experience from previous roles including PwC and Greensill.
In her new role Hobbs will be responsible for strengthening ESG initiatives across the firm and embedding key initiatives across the portfolio – from conducting ESG-related diligence on potential investments to supporting portfolio businesses embed ESG as a core pillar of value creation.
Other promotions in the business include Lucie Mills, Head of Business Transformation, who has been promoted to Director. Since joining in 2019, Mills has worked to drive forward and embed the NorthEdge approach to value creation and will continue to work across the private equity firm’s 23 portfolio businesses to support them with their growth plans.
Meanwhile in the Leeds office, Nicola McQuaid and Mani Minhas have been promoted to Director and Investment Director, respectively.
McQuaid joined NorthEdge in 2016 and sits on the board of video gaming company Catalis, furniture business Belfield, home décor company Arthouse and international stairlift manufacturer Platinum Stairlifts. Alongside her board responsibilities McQuaid has also played a key part in driving the NorthEdge Diversity & Inclusion agenda.
Minhas, who works in the new investment team, currently sits on the board of Sunderland’s Clearly Drinks and was involved in the investment into e-commerce retailer Lights4fun last year. As Investment Director, Minhas will continue to identify high growth businesses in Yorkshire and the North East to join NorthEdge’s growing portfolio.
The private equity firm is also welcoming two Investment Executives through its two-year investment training programme. Ellie Wood joins from KPMG where she spent more than a year in M&A Advisory working on deals in the healthcare, construction and consumer sectors. A second Investment Executive is due to start in May.
Ray Stenton, Managing Partner at NorthEdge, says: “Despite the pandemic we have had a strong 12 months at NorthEdge. We have successfully navigated our businesses through Covid-19 and completed the fundraise of NorthEdge Fund III, as well as adding a number of exciting new businesses to our growing portfolio – all whilst supporting our colleagues and communities. We could not have achieved this success without the talent, commitment, and enthusiasm we have in the NorthEdge team.
“These promotions and appointments reflect the long-term ambitions of NorthEdge, supporting our portfolio management teams to build better businesses together and driving successful outcomes for NorthEdge and all its stakeholders.”
