Private Equity
The UK private equity and venture capital industry accounts for almost 60% of the whole of the European market. Each year these UK Private Equity firms provide several billions of pounds to form develop and reshape around 1,600 ambitious UK companies with high growth prospects. A great variety of businesses in different industry sectors benefit from private equity; from high to low technology and in different development stages, from start-up to large established companies.
Private equity in the UK originated in the late 18th century, when entrepreneurs found wealthy individuals to back their projects on an ad hoc basis. This informal method of financing became an industry in the late 1970s and early 1980s when a number of private equity firms were founded. Private equity is now a recognised asset class. There are over 170 active UK private equity firms, which provide several billion pounds each year to unquoted companies, around 80% of which are located in the UK, many in London.
Private equity is medium to long-term finance provided in return for an equity stake in potentially high growth unquoted companies private equity provides long-term, committed share capital, to help unquoted companies grow and succeed. Private equity investors are only interested in companies with high growth prospects, which are managed by experienced and ambitious teams who are capable of turning their business plan into reality.
Private Equity companies rely heavily on their IT and business systems to operate efficiently and effectively. Companies such as Alchemy & Sovereign Capital have worked successfully for more than 10 years with Wizard as their trusted IT support partner to ensure the provision of IT services. This enables them to focus on the growth of their businesses, confident that their networks and infrastructure will run efficiently, securely and without interruption.
