Westbridge Capital, a London and Cardiff, UK-based private equity investment firm, closed its latest fund at £140m.
Oversubscribed with commitments made by existing and new institutional investors and WestBridge’s industrialist Strategic Investor Group, WestBridge II seeks to invest between £10m to £20m in U.K. SMEs with enterprise values of between £15m and £40m.
The fund is expected to invest in 10 to 12 companies.
Over the past nine months, WestBridge II has completed three MBO transactions in:
– AJM Mobility, which provides mobility and assistive technology equipment to people in the community on behalf of the NHS and local authorities;
– APEM, an environmental consultancy operating in the aquatic niche; and
– Wilcomatic, which distributes, installs and maintains vehicle and train wash systems as well as operating car washes in partnership with supermarkets.
The firm is led by:
– Guy Davies, managing partner,
– James Wakefield, chairman,
– Valerie Kendall, Partner,
– Sandy Smart, Partner and Chief Investment Officer.
In recent months, WestBridge has expanded the investment team by hiring Tim Whittard, James MacLeay and Edward Minton.
Additional hires are also in progress.