Mid-market executive search specialist Directorbank has successfully completed a management buy-out.
Directorbank’s current Management Team has acquired the business from private equity house Nova Capital Management and takes 100% equity ownership.
Graham Jones, Directorbank’s Managing Director who led the deal, forms part of the new leadership team alongside company directors Dorothea Kronenberghs, James Searby, George Heppenstall and Simon Thomas.
Loan finance has been provided by Enterprise Ventures, part of Mercia Technologies PLC and a leading provider of finance for SMEs. Advisors on the deal were Simon Fielder of international law firm Bird & Bird and Tony Perkins of BDO London. The transaction was also supported by Isabelle Inskip of Weightmans on behalf of Enterprise Ventures.
The buy-out provides an ownership model and capital which will accelerate the company’s ambitious growth plans. Founded in 1998, Directorbank has transformed from a focused provider of executive and non-executive directors to private equity backed buyouts to a leading source of Board and senior level talent to the wider mid-market in the UK and Germany. The new owners, each with more than 15 years of Board-level recruitment experience, have been instrumental in this growth and have invested much expertise, commitment and passion into strategic and operational development, client relationships and marketing to embed and grow Directorbank’s respected market position.
The MBO coincides with a recent London office move to Great Queen Street in Covent Garden and increased assignment activity from entrepreneurial mid-market firms requiring high calibre talent to implement change and drive growth.
Chris Pestell, Investment Director at Enterprise Ventures, comments:
“We are delighted to support Directorbank with this transaction and have been really impressed by the highly skilled Management Team, and their depth of experience in the markets that they serve. We look forward to working with the team as they build on the foundations that are already firmly established.”