Aurelius bolsters UK team with new hires and promotions

Wahida Ahmed
19 January 2022

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Pan-European private equity firm Aurelius has announced four new hires in its London-based team and three promotions.

Aurelius announced two new hires to its UK private equity team, Euan Phillips and Ewan Mackenzie Smith.

New investment manager Phillips joins Aurelius from Hilco Capital, where he spent five years and was an investment manager for two years, according to LinkedIn. He previously worked in KPMG's restructuring team, where he spent four years.

Investment associate Mackenzie Smith joins Aurelius from EY, where he was a strategy and transactions manager. Smith has advised on private equity deals and carve-out situations, and has also been responsible for functional due diligence analysis.

Aurelius made two further hires for its alternative lending business, Charles Suckling and Tom Haig.

Suckling is an associate who joins from HSBC, where he was a mid-market leveraged finance team manager. His expertise includes debt restructuring through portfolio management during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tom Haig is an associate who joins the team in March from EY where he was the assistant director in the turnaround and restructuring strategy team. While at EY, he advised on restructuring and turnaround situations across a range of sectors in the UK and globally.

Alongside these new hires, the GP has promoted Peter Woods, Andrew Roth and Philip Stoner. Woods has been promoted to managing director where he will execute and manage UK investments for both Aurelius European Opportunities IV (in the mid-market segment) and Aurelius Equity Opportunities (in the lower-mid-market segment), according to a press release. Roth and Stoner have been promoted to principal.

The GP is currently investing via Aurelius European Opportunities IV, which was launched in December 2020 and held a final close in April 2021 on its target of EUR 360m. The fund invests in the UK and European mid-market companies and focuses on corporate carve-outs, according to Unquote Data. The GP outlined their recent UK activity in a press release, specifically the carve-out acquisition of Minova in December 2021 from Orica and the exit of Office Depot group via a trade sale in August 2021. Current portfolio companies include Moveero, Zentia and Rivus Fleet Solutions, according to a press release.

Aurelius is a pan-European investment firm that is publicly listed in Germany, and has offices in Germany and the UK. According to the GP's website, it focuses on companies with sales of around GBP 25m-1bn+, EBITDA margins from negative to +15%, and with equity investment requirements of up to GBP 100m, investing in sectors including chemicals, consumer, business services, TMT, industrials, food and beverages.