Three Hills Makes Investment in Specialist Leadership Advisory & Analytics Firm LCap Group
December 18, 2023 – Three Hills has made an investment in LCap Group, a specialist leadership advisory & analytics firm that focuses on high-growth companies and private equity-backed businesses, as well as supporting private credit and equity houses directly. Three Hills has invested £32.5 million to support LCap Group’s active M&A strategy, which will allow the business to continue its expansion plan. This transaction sees Three Hills partner with an experienced management team that has been instrumental in the company’s success since 2003. Furthermore, this represents Three Hills’ sixth transaction from Three Hills Capital Solutions IV in just 14 months since it closed in October 2022.
“The company has worked hard to broaden its offering to diversify versus its competitors by developing a proprietary technology that allows for additional business services in data insight and consulting,” the company said about the investment. “Three Hills is looking forward to leveraging its strong understanding of the recruitment sector, as well as its extensive M&A experience and international network, to support the management team in executing their expansion plans into new sectors and geographies.”
Three Hills views the investment in LCap Group as an opportunity to back a prominent player in a specialized market focused on supporting rapidly growing companies.
The LCap Group supports businesses by enabling their leaders and investors to create value through leadership talent, insight, and deal origination. Last year, LCap acquired a stake in U.K.-based Altus Partners, a buy-side specialist executive search firm with 30 professionals focused on filling roles for investment, M&A, and finance leadership. The firm operates in several core areas of private equity, building out PE investment, finance, and investor relations teams, from analyst to partner level roles. The firm serves private equity-backed portfolio companies, focused on the finance and strategy, corporate development and commercial finance functions.
Related: Hunt Scanlon Media Launches M&A Advisory Service for Recruiters
Ed Chamberlain, founder of Altus Partners, has established a strong record over many years within private equity recruiting. Over a long career in the sector, he has built long-standing, trusted relationships with key figures around the private equity sector. In 2006, he helped establish One Search before identifying a gap in the market and setting up Altus Partners in 2009. Mr. Chamberlain has also gone on to co-found sister company C&C Search, where he is chair to the board.
Past Investments
In 2021, the firm acquired a stake in U.K.-based Rowan Executive Search. “Rowan is a strong brand and a superb business which speaks to a clear segment of the marketplace,” said Graham Roadnight, CEO of LCap, at the time. “It has great synergies with the other companies in the LCap Group, and significantly broadens our scale in the private capital and private equity markets.”
The LCap Group Launches Leadership Dynamics
The LCap Group recently launched Leadership Dynamics, a first-of-its-kind leadership analytics and evaluation tool to help the private equity sector and wider business community implement change. Blending big data, 18 years of industry expertise and machine learning integration, Leadership Dynamics is specifically focused on the needs of PE funds and PE backed high-growth businesses. Its primary objective is to provide bespoke leadership foresight to Investment directors, chairs and CEOs, supporting the implementation of change in a bid to reduce the investment risk of an executive team not being able to deliver on their value creation plan.
“We are hugely excited to bring to market a tool that meets the specific needs of our clients and to see our team’s extensive knowledge, expertise and experience making a positive impact on the success of leadership teams,” said Graham Roadnight, CEO. “The LCap Group is about supporting individuals in their decision-making, enabling our clients to achieve their business goals and Leadership Dynamics provides them with insights that elevate their knowledge and experience and help them make the very best decisions.”
Rowan, which is based in Manchester and Lancashire, England, works with business owners across the region to secure top talent. The company, which was founded in 2011 and employs 30, specializes in strengthening the boards and leadership teams of privately and family-owned SMEs as well as those backed by private equity. Rowan helps clients to shape their goals and board structures and to then secure the right talent to accelerate their transformation and growth, and ultimately to crystallize their position.
In 2019, LCap acquired search firm Drax Executive, a private equity leadership specialist. The move helped Drax to further develop its capability to define the capital value of leadership within PE-backed businesses. Drax’s clients are individual leaders considering private equity as an alternative to their existing career, management teams of private equity backed businesses wanting to optimize their performance, and private equity investors pre and post deal.
Related: New Heritage Capital Invests in DeWinter Group
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; and Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
