PE house strengthens reach in Thames Valley
Fast-growing private equity house YFM Equity Partners (YFM), which has an expanding network of regional offices across the UK, is strengthening its presence in the Thames Valley with the opening of a new office in Reading to be closer to businesses and professional advisers in the region and build its reach across the South West where it has undertaken a raft of recent investments.
Located at Fora in Thames Tower, the company’s new offices in the city centre will house a four-strong YFM team who all live in the region, including investment partner David Wrench, a 15-year veteran of the local market. Three other YFM partners, including ex-Altitude Partners founder Jonathan Simm, who has also spent the majority of his career investing in businesses in the region, will also be based at the new office.
“We are a ‘people’ business first and foremost, and we’ve chosen a location to enable us to be accessible to our various stakeholders. As a firm, the YFM team spends a great deal of time working closely with our investment businesses both before and after we invest, so having a proper full time office in this key region for us makes a lot of sense,” said partner David Wrench.
With an existing network of offices in London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, the new base in the Thames Valley builds on YFM’s regional presence throughout the UK and becomes its fifth office. YFM has a strong track record across the South West, including recent deals such as a £7m investment to support the primary buyout of the loss adjusting and claims management specialist GHG based in Eastleigh last year; and a £4m growth capital investment in the Bournemouth-based film visual effects company Outpost VFX.
Partner and head of new investments in the South, Jamie Roberts, adds: “The new office is a further demonstration of our ongoing commitment to working with businesses in the Thames Valley and across the South West. We have long recognised the area’s distinct identity and believe that by establishing a physical base here, we will be able to form stronger links with other professional advisers and business leaders, enabling us to make more investments in the region as well as supporting those already in the portfolio. As innovative companies look for new opportunities in the current fast-changing environment, we continue to be committed to building out our national presence and supporting businesses and their advisers locally as we grow our own business.””