Leading growth buyouts
About Us
Spirit Capital is an independent private equity fund manager which operates exclusively in the UK lower mid-market.
Corporate philosophy
Our people
Our investors
Investment criteria
Dynamic sector focus
Backing management teams
Spirit involvement
Non-executive chairman
Spirit operates to strict and simple principles when dealing with its stakeholders:
Approachability - We aim to be user friendly and proactive.
Delivery - We aim to deliver exactly what we say we will whether to our investors, our investee companies or the advisers with whom we interact.
Clear decision-making - We aim to deliver timely but considered feedback. If we decide not to proceed we aim to be clear on the reasons. Equally we aim to fully commit to a proactive “can do” process when we are positive on an opportunity.
"The new investment has provided FMG Support with the financial base required to deliver the full potential of the strong competitive position which has been established over recent years and will enable us to continue to open up new end markets for our services."
Nick Brown, CEO, FMG Support
The Spirit Capital Team is led by Managing Partner, Francesco Santinon, supported by Partners Colin Stirling who has responsibility for Origination and New Investment and Andy Glennon who is responsible for Portfolio and Realisations. All three of the senior executives have extensive private equity experience.
The team is completed by Chairman and industry veteran Graham Dewhirst, who was formerly a partner and Head of Investor Relations at Bridgepoint.
The business provides national coverage of the UK lower mid-market from two offices in London and Leeds.
"We are delighted to have secured Spirit Capital as a partner to work with us as we continue to expand our national service offering to our client base. We have established a strong market position over recent years and this partnership will enable us to realise the full long term potential of the business."
Mark Calvert, Managing Director, Adler and Allan
Our funds under management have been raised from a broad spectrum of financial institutions, which are committed long-term investors in private equity as an asset class. They include local authority pension funds, corporate pension funds and banks with their geographic spread including the UK, North America and The Middle East.
"We had terrific support to help grow our business from our previous owner and were looking for a partner to support EDSR's continued growth and future development. Spirit Capital had an excellent understanding of our business and sector. We are able to help our industrial clients not only to meet their regulatory obligations but, in many cases, to release hidden value from their property portfolios."
Tom Brankley, Managing Director, EDSR
Our focus is entirely on the UK lower mid-market which is defined as businesses with an enterprise value of between £10 million and £50 million. Our typical investment size is therefore between £5 million as a minimum and up to £20 million as a maximum.
In order to deliver superior returns to our investors and the management teams we support we have established a clear investment strategy based on three key attributes:
- Proven management
- A clear strategy to grow capital value
- The ability to influence the market served
"We saw a significant opportunity in working with a private equity provider to take our business forward both in the water industry, where we have a significant track record and also to develop our offering in other sectors, in particular in municipal solid waste. The backing of Spirit provided us with a springboard for greater growth."
Malcolm Wilkinson, Managing Director, Enpure
Spirit Capital does not have a specific narrow sector focus but will target those sectors which demonstrate two key characteristics:
Growth: The market within which the business operates must offer the prospect of growth and the management team must have a clear strategy to capitalise on this opportunity.
Resilience: The market into which Spirit will commit capital must be underpinned by fundamental drivers which are likely to continue into the medium term. For example, these could include a favourable legislative environment or positive demographic trends.
This focus on vital and dynamic characteristics is likely to result in target sectors varying from time to time.
Examples of markets that are considered attractive at the current time include environmental services and products, healthcare services and products and specialist outsourcing areas including compliance and inspection, document management and fleet management.
While the majority of opportunities we currently see are services businesses we have a strong track record in niche manufacturing therefore, within our targeted sectors we are still keen to source manufacturing opportunities. Click here to read more about our Portfolio.
The fundamental cornerstone of the private equity industry is the partnership between financial capital and human capital. We regard all of our investments as “acquisitions with management” therefore backing the right team is at the core of what we do. We are seeking to back proven management teams with an established track record.
Equally it is important that the management team is fully aligned with Spirit and our underlying investors. All of the management teams that we support are incentivised by meaningful equity participation to ensure that everyone is focussed on the creation and realisation of capital value.
Spirit is an active and proactive investor and normally appoints two of the Partners as non-executive directors to every investee company. One will be the member of the investment team who led the investment process in order to ensure continuity of knowledge and relationship. The second will be Andy Glennon in his role as Head of Portfolio. This provides both useful practical cover, ensuring one of the Spirit team should also be available, but also opens up access to the wider Spirit network.
When referring to investors, active is often interpreted as interfering but this is not the case with Spirit. We see our role as being strategic and supportive, making use of our knowledge and contact base to the benefit of the business. We do not get involved in operations or the day-to-day management of the business.
In all cases we advise the appointment of a non-executive chairman to the boards of our investee companies. This person should be jointly sourced and agreed by Spirit Capital and management and should be selected on the basis of ability to add value to the chosen strategic path.