Aurelius Equity Opportunities further builds UK team with appointment of Peter Wood as Principal.
Aurelius Equity Opportunities SE & Co has added Peter Wood to its UK team, with immediate effect. Wood joins Aurelius as a Principal, based in the London office, working as part of the investment team to source and execute investments in businesses that would benefit from the long-term strategic direction and financial and operational support that Aurelius provides.
Wood’s appointment builds on a series of hires for the UK business in 2017, including that of Andrew Roth and Thomas Pinks to Aurelius’ investment team. With a robust deal pipeline already in place for 2018, Peter’s appointment further strengthens Aurelius’ deal capabilities in this important market.
Prior to joining Aurelius, Wood was an Investment Director at special opportunities growth capital investor, Next Wave Partners. During his time there, he completed five platform acquisitions, nine bolt-on acquisitions and multiple follow-on investment rounds, re-financings and exit processes. He also acted as the board representative for Next Wave investee company, The Delivery Group, where he contributed to creating and growing the company to over GBP200 million turnover and GBP10 million EBIDTA by originating and leading transformational bolt-on acquisitions for the business. During his time at Next Wave he was also an investor representative at the boards of Crendo, Petainer, Future Thinking, LAUK Lighting, ITI Energy and Simply Zesty Limited.
Wood joined Next Wave Partners in 2008 from PwC’s strategy group where he was consulting to mid-market private equity firms such as Apax Partners, Doughty Hanson and Bridgepoint on their investment strategy and providing commercial due diligence and advice on transactions. He began his career as a Business Analyst at Accenture plc. Peter graduated from Warwick Business School with a degree in Management Sciences.
Tristan Nagler, Managing Director of Aurelius in the UK, says: “Peter’s appointment comes at an exciting time for Aurelius, following a busy year for the UK business. His in-depth deal experience and well developed skill set will be invaluable to us as we further grow our capabilities in the UK market and expand our investment portfolio. We are very pleased to welcome Peter to a team that has grown to more than twenty employees since its set-up.”
Wood adds: “I am delighted to be joining Aurelius as it continues to cement its reputation as a leading mid-market investor in the UK. I very much look forward to working with the team to support Aurelius’ ongoing development and help maintain its momentum.”
This announcement follows a series of achievements for Aurelius’ UK business in 2017, including the acquisitions of Connect Books, Abelan Board Industrial, Wex Photographic and the European business of Office Depot Inc, as well as the sale of ICT services group Getronics, Aurelius‘ largest exit to date.
