Gresham adds to London team

UK mid-market private equity firm Gresham Private Equity has appointed Mike O’Brien as an investment executive in its London office.

Prior to Gresham, O’Brien worked in strategy and corporate development teams at Computacenter, where he supported a number of mid-market transactions in the IT hardware and services sectors.

O’Brien began his career as a strategy consultant with Kaiser Associates and latterly OC&C Strategy Consultants, both in London.

Gresham’s track record in the IT services industry includes its management buyout of 2escape2, an IT services provider offering IT infrastructure, maintenance, networking, education and other services. Gresham backed the £16 million MBO of 2escape2 in July 2003 and has supported five bolt-on acquisitions for the company since.

Earlier this week, Gresham exited its investment in nuclear and airport services operator Alstec Group to asset management business Babcock International Group for a cash consideration of £44.9 million, generating a 4x return on its original investment.

London, Manchester and Birmingham-based Gresham specialises in the business and support services, consumer, financial services, healthcare/pharmaceutical and industrial products sectors.