A Dutch private equity firm's new UK investment team has relocated to larger premises in Wilmslow from where it will target partnerships with companies across the UK and Ireland.
In February 2017, it emerged that Waterland Private Equity Investments had chosen Office No 251 in Manchester Business Park as the location of its first UK office. Now its UK team has relocated to a larger, permanent office in Wilmslow.
The team is led by Andy Scaife who was previously chief executive at Quantum Pharma, having been managing director during its period of private equity ownership. Scaife is being supported by Ryan Hallworth, Dominic Graham, David Slattery and office manager Helen Michael while Phil Goodwin, former UK head of Montagu, is a non-executive strategic adviser.
Waterland is also in the process of further expanding the team and expects to add two further investment professionals in the coming months.
Scaife, Waterland UK office lead, said: "As a new player in the UK, this is a very exciting time for the team. The interest in the fund and our differentiated offering has been strong and we are using our market-led approach to identify opportunities in the UK and Ireland.
"We have the ability to really deliver on market consolidation opportunities, use our operational skills sets, and have a more flexible approach to investing. Using our unique approach and offering, we very much look forward to adding more companies to our UK portfolio.
"We have a focused investment strategy and significant capital to support ambitious entrepreneurs with domestic and overseas expansion. We will also work closely with our investment teams across Europe to help us identify international expansion opportunities for our portfolio companies."
The European-wide private equity fund manager recently closed its seventh fund WPEF VII at €2bn (£1.78bn), which took less than two months to raise, and attracted investment from Europe, the US, the Middle East and Asia.
Waterland UK focuses on sourcing buy-and-build opportunities across the UK and Ireland, typically concerning companies with EBITDA of between £3m and £10m. The firm is looking to partner with companies across investment themes such as outsourcing, an ageing population, sustainability and luxury and lifestyle.
Founded in 1999, Waterland has backed in excess of 80 platform companies and has supported a further 330 bolt-on acquisitions to further support their growth. Waterland now employs more than 50 investment professionals across offices at Bussum in the Netherlands, Antwerp in Belgium, Warsaw in Poland, Copenhagen in Denmark, Dusseldorf and Munich in Germany, and Wilmslow.
Read more at insidermedia.com