The three executive directors of Close Growth Capital have bought the business out of Close Brothers and changed its name to Growth Capital Partners.
Growth Capital Partners provides structured equity, a combined equity and debt product, to the UK’s small to medium sized businesses.
Bill Crossan (pictured), managing partner of Growth Capital Partners, says: ‘We’ve never been more positive about the future. The UK is bursting with opportunity. Growth Capital was the first private equity firm in the UK to use structured equity to finance management buy outs. Our blended equity and debt capital structures are constructed to suit individual businesses wherever they are in their growth phase – exactly the right product for this part in the investment cycle.’
During the last ten years the firm has made over 20 investments including companies such as Tangerine, the confectionery firm that makes Butterkist Popcorn. Since then it has exited from 12 businesses.
Growth Capital Partners currently manages approximately GBP90m of existing private equity investments.
It has eight companies in its portfolio: Amor Group, IT software services for the oil and gas sector; Blueberry Group, supplier and distributor of speciality foods; Wrap Film Systems, cling film and foil converter for food service; Eldapoint, provider of container handling and storage for shipping; Killby & Gayford, specialist contractor focused on heritage buildings; A-Gas, international distribution of speciality gases; Tangerine, confectionery manufacturer; and Entec, multidisciplinary environmental consultancy.
Growth Capital Partners typically invests GBP5m to GBP50m in management buyouts, development capital and secondary or tertiary buyouts.
The partnership is headed by Crossan, who founded Close Growth Capital in 1999, Garrett Curran, who joined the firm in 2001 from PWC, and James Blake who joined the firm from 3i in 2005.
