Connection Capital hires Head of Co-investment to expand private equity deal by deal offering.
- Peter Knight joins Connection Capital from Legal & General Capital as Head of Co-Investments.
- Private equity investments are the most sought after alternative investment asset class by Connection Capital’s private client audience.
Connection Capital, the specialist private client investment business, has hired Peter Knight as Head of its new Co-investments team, as the appetite of private investors to invest in hard-to-access direct private equity and venture co-investment opportunities increases.
Peter joins from Legal & General Capital where he worked as a Senior Investment Manager, covering private equity (both management buyout and venture capital), private debt, housing and infrastructure transactions.
Prior to that he worked within the asset management division, managing strategic asset allocation and objective-driven funds for a range of client types before transitioning into the private assets division. He graduated from Durham University with a degree in Economics and is a CFA charterholder.
At Connection Capital, Peter will be responsible for leading and developing the co-investments capability. His focus is on sourcing strong, individual deals from private equity and venture managers’ portfolios allowing clients to directly invest in hard-to-access deals and companies with global propositions.
By leveraging the manager relationships developed by Connection Capital’s funds team, its clients will gain increased diversification enabling them to target differentiated exposures and improved risk-adjusted returns.
Previous co-investments offered by Connection Capital include participation in the MBO of Essential Pharma alongside Headway Capital/Gyrus Capital and participation in the 2021 $200m series C funding round of leading cloud native core banking technology firm, Thought Machine Group alongside IQ Capital.
Connection Capital clients were also able to co-invest in Rosa’s Thai Café, alongside private equity manager TriSpan, to fund the MBO and provide growth capital to expand the popular restaurant group.
The hire follows a busy summer of deal-making with Connection Capital exiting from investee company Tempcover for a return materially in excess of 5x money and completing the following investments: the MBO of 4Wood, a leading TV and film set design and build business; £5.1m growth capital in Brompton Technology, a technology company focused on high-end processing for LED video walls; and £3.9m growth capital in Spotless Water, a B2B provider of ultra-pure water. Portfolio company Mode Solutions also completed the bolt-on acquisition of IT Managed Services provider EACs in June.
It also comes at a time where the appetite for direct private equity investments has spiked as investors look for alternatives to quoted markets. In a recent survey of its private professional investor clients, Connection Capital found private equity (single company investments and growth and buyout funds) to be the most sought-after alternative investment class by 67% of respondents.
Claire Madden, Founder and Managing Partner at Connection Capital, said:
“The professional relationships and networks we have nurtured over the years have resulted in some tremendous deals for our clients to gain exposure to. Peter Knight’s appointment to lead the strategy, increases our capacity and reflects the appetite we are seeing from private clients to further diversify their portfolios and target outsize returns with direct private equity investments.
Peter Knight said:
“I am delighted to have joined Connection Capital to head up its Co-Investment team. Connection Capital’s innovative and differentiated funding model was a particular draw for me, as it allows for a flexibility that few other investment firms can offer. I am hugely excited to build on the work done by Claire and the team, and to establish Co-Investments as a core part of the Connection Capital offering”.
About Connection Capital
Connection Capital LLP is specialist syndicator of investment funds from private professional investors into direct private equity, private debt and commercial property deals, as well as alternative asset funds. It currently has some £400 million of funds under management across a diverse portfolio. Connection Capital provides a specialist managed service to help professional clients build up their own alternative asset portfolios. Private investors self-select which opportunities they want to take a stake in. Opportunities are identified and negotiated by Connection Capital, which also carries out all due diligence and manages the investment from completion through to exit, on its clients’ behalf. Connection Capital is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Press enquiries:
Claire Madden
Managing Partner
Connection Capital
020 3696 4010 or 07764 241476
Russell O’Connor
Headlines for Business 07760 282586