Portfolio director joins YFM’s growing investment team in the South West
YFM Equity Partners (YFM), which has offices in Reading, London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, is continuing to expand its team throughout the UK with the appointment of Nick Holt as a portfolio director. Based at the Reading office, Nick joins the Thames Valley team as it builds and continues to support businesses across the South West.
Nick joins from GEMS Education, one of the world’s largest K-12 education providers where he was a member of the management team across Europe, responsible for corporate development and operations. Prior to that, Nick had 13 years working in private equity across a range of businesses and sectors including restaurants, pubs, software, healthcare, education, IT services and fintech. Working operationally and strategically, he has taken lead roles in originating, negotiating and executing transactions, refinancings, complex restructurings and sale processes.
In his new role, Nick will further strengthen YFM’s portfolio team, supporting management teams across its investee companies as the firm continues to deploy funds from its two growth capital funds which invest in fast-growing early-stage businesses; and from its Buyout Fund, typically investing between £2m and £10m per transaction into businesses with strong growth potential located across the UK.
YFM has a strong track record across the South West with deals including a £7m investment to support the primary buyout of the loss adjusting and claims management specialist GHG based in Eastleigh in 2020; and a £4m growth capital investment in the Bournemouth-based film visual effects company Outpost VFX last year.
Nick comments: “Having worked with some of the members of the YFM team previously, I am genuinely excited to be joining a dynamic team who form strong relationships with the management teams they support.”
David Bell, partner – head of portfolio at YFM, said: “As we celebrate 40 years of supporting fast-growing businesses across the UK, we are continuing to build our team with experts like Nick who have the experience to partner with our 44 portfolio businesses and support their management teams to succeed.”
