Primary Capital hires Gresham’s Wolstenholme

Harriet Bailey
01 September 2014

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London-based Primary Capital has appointed Iain Wolstenholme as partner to establish a Manchester office.

Wolstenholme had been partner at Gresham Private Equity's Manchester office for the past seven years.

Between 1997 and 2007 he worked in corporate finance; the first eight years were spent at PwC with the remainder at EY.

While at Gresham, Wolstenholme worked on deals including its exit from Hotter Shoes in January this year. The deal value was believed to be in the region of £200m. Gresham acquired a 44% stake in Hotter for £21m 10 months after Wolstenholme joined the company, according to unquote" data.

In June, Gresham announced that it would stop fundraising for its fifth fund and would focus on returning cash to investors. In a statement, Gresham CEO Simon Inchley said it "will not be able to raise a sufficiently large fund in an acceptable timeframe".

Primary's new Manchester office will focus on targeting deals in the north of England, according to the GP.

In July, the GP closed its fourth fund on its target of £225m. Announced in late 2013, it held its first close on £150m in February. More than half of the LPs that invested in the fund are existing backers, including pension funds, insurance companies, endowments and family offices.

As with previous funds, Primary IV will target management buy-outs and buy-ins with enterprise values of £20-100m and will look to invest between £10-45m.