Graphite Enterprise Trust, the quoted investment trust managed by UK mid-market private equity firm Graphite Capital, has sold Huntress Group, a UK white-collar recruitment specialist, to
Graphite Enterprise Trust, the quoted investment trust managed by UK mid-market private equity firm Graphite Capital, has sold Huntress Group, a UK white-collar recruitment specialist, to a Nomura-backed management buyout group.
The sale, together with a refinancing in 2005, means the trust has earned 7.6 times its investment and an internal rate of return of 38.5 per cent. Graphite backed the start-up of Huntress in June 2000 led by chief executive Gary Laurence, an entrepreneur whom Graphite had supported in a previous recruitment business.
Huntress provides permanent and temporary staff in three sectors worth around GBP8.8bn in the UK market, commercial (secretarial and office assistance), accountancy and finance, and technology. Its clients are mainly blue-chip companies and public sector bodies.
The business has grown strongly as a result of its sector focus, diversified client base and mix of permanent and temporary placements. It has rolled the model out to 17 offices with a strong base in south-east England and a growing presence in other UK regions and abroad. Huntress has produced compound annual revenue growth exceeding 40 per cent over the past five years and expects to top GBP75m in sales in the current year.
‘Huntress is a high-quality company which has consistently delivered impressive levels of performance,’ says Graphite Capital partner Mike Tilbury. ‘Its success has been driven by the robust business model established at the start, combined with a talented management team.
‘We were able to support the company’s development with our extensive experience in the recruitment sector and the roll-out of other successful business models. Huntress is now well placed to leverage its growth across the UK and abroad with its new backers Nomura.’
Laurence says: ‘Graphite supported us from start-up when the recruitment market was going through one of its most demanding periods. The business has expanded strongly since. With Nomura’s backing we will now build on our leading brand in the UK and abroad and look forward to further substantial growth.’
London-listed Graphite Enterprise Trust aims to provide shareholders with long-term capital growth through investment in unquoted companies, mainly through specialist funds but also directly, and has total assets of some GBP380m.
Graphite Capital, which specialises in providing of private equity finance to mid-market companies in the UK, focuses on management buyouts and buy-ins, expansion capital, replacement capital and turnaround opportunities involving transactions with an enterprise value of between GBP25m and GBP200m.
It manages more than GBP1.2bn through three private funds and Graphite Enterprise Trust, and raised GBP475m in May for its latest fund, Graphite Capital Partners VII. In the past three years Graphite has completed 23 exits and refinancings with a total value of GBP1.1bn including Maplin Electronics, Wagamama, Ridgmont Care Homes and Jane Norman.
The firm’s previous fund, Graphite Capital Partners VI, has invested in 15 companies including holiday home and caravan park operator Park Holidays UK, car, off-road and motorcycle tyre wholesaler Micheldever Tyre Services, technical recruitment business NES, non-surgical cosmetic procedures provider Skin, outsourced staffing group Aktrion, and London health and fitness club The Third Space.
