Graphite Capital makes raft of promotions and hires

Harriet Matthews
20 September 2021

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UK-headquartered mid-market-focused GP Graphite Capital has made five promotions, including three senior partners, and has announced the recruitment of three investment executives.

James Markham, Omar Kayat and Humphrey Baker have been promoted to senior partner, while John Western has been promoted to partner and Zoe Jackson to investment manager.

Markham's experience at Graphite includes working on the GBP 428m trade sale of automotive repair and finishing products business U-Pol; the sale saw the GP score returns of 4.5x money, as reported.

Omar Kayat, Graphite Capital

Kayat led the GP's acquisition of personalised children's books producer Wonderbly, which was announced in July 2021.

Baker led Graphite's investment in communications and cybersecurity software Babble Cloud, the GP said in a statement.

Humphrey Baker, Graphite Capital

New investment manager Western worked on Graphite's acquisition of software testing platform Ten10, while colleague Jackson worked on the GP's investment in online education provider Higher Ed International, according to the same statement.

The GP simultaneously announce that Edgar Borg Rodriguez, Tom Llewellyn and Alex Hearne are to join the firm as investment executives.

Rodriguez joins Graphite with prior experience at Rothschild & Co and PwC. Llewellyn spent five years with PwC prior to joining Graphite. Hearne previously worked at Citigroup in the firm's investment banking team.

Graphite invests in UK-based companies with enterprise values of GBP 30m-175m. The GP is currently deploying equity via Graphite Capital Partners IX, which held a final close in July 2018 on GBP 470m. The fund has made seven investments and expects to make 8-12 in total.