Private Equity News & Analysis

Lyceum hires Sovereign Capital dealmaker

Simon Hitchcock will make the move to fellow UK mid-market firm Lyceum in March 2009. Lyceum has simultaneously made three investment team hires, bringing to 17 its total number of investment professionals, as it invests its £255m fund.

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UK mid-market firm Lyceum Capital has made four additions to its investment team, including the hire of Simon Hitchcock as partner.

Simon Hitchcock

Slated to join the firm in March 2009, Hitchcock has worked for UK mid-market firm Sovereign Capital since 2002, most recently as a director and investment committee member. He led four platform and 10 add-on investments at Sovereign, according to a statement.

Prior to Sovereign, Hitchcock spent six years on the lead advisory team at Coopers & Lybrand Corporate Finance.

Ian Williams, previously director of corporate finance for Arbuthnot Securities has joined Lyceum as an associate partner,

“Simon and Ian bring strong expertise in deal origination, buying platform companies and developing them through add-on acquisitions, which is central to Lyceum’s investment approach,” Jeremy Hand, Lyceum managing partner, said in a statement.

The firm recently hired two other investment team members, which Hand said also bring “a good network of relationships in the mid-market”. Hand told PEO that the growing firm felt it should take advantage of talent on the market as “good people don't just come up when you want them to”.

Duncan Green, previously an analyst for PricewaterhouseCoopers Strategy, has joined Lyceum as an analyst as has Humphrey Baker, previously a manager with Ernst & Young’s performance improvement division.

The new additions bring to 17 the number of investment professionals at Lyceum, which two years ago spun out of German parent bank WestLB when Axa Private Equity and AlpInvest purchased the bank.

Lyceum closed its second fund on £255 million (€321 million; $460 million) in February. This month, the firm agreed a £37 million take-private of Carewatch Care Services and exited its investment in vehicle management group Leasedrive Velo in an £80 million secondary sale to LDC, the private equity arm of Lloyd’s TSB bank.

Hand said Lyceum is sitting in a fortunate position at present given its recent fund close, as well as having “managed to get most of our portfolio sold up through 2007”. He added, “I don't think we need to rush at spending money at the moment.”