Posted: 13 January 2023

WestBridge promotes four and hints at further team expansion

WESTBRIDGE, the leading lower mid-market private equity firm, has announced a number of promotions following a successful 12 months during which it completed six transactions, including its exit from bChannels which generated a 4.2x multiple of cost.

Peter Barkley has been promoted to partner. Barkley joined WestBridge in 2019 to head the  Manchester office and has made a significant contribution to the firm’s deal-making in the region.

James MacLeay and Ed Minton have both been recognised with several young and emerging deal-maker accolades in 2022. Having joined WestBridge in 2018, they have each been promoted to investment director.

Rory Whitrow has been promoted to investment executive. Whitrow joined WestBridge in 2021 as an analyst and has played a key supporting role in three of the firm’s 2022 transactions: the £17m investment in SCT, the £20m investment in Techex and, most recently, the £18.7m investment in Alpine.

WestBridge managing partner, Guy Davies, said:

“We have created a strong, close knit and collaborative team at WestBridge that is laser focused on identifying and partnering with strong management teams of attractive niche businesses. All four individuals have made significant contributions to our activity, helping us deploy our Value Creation Model. Ultimately, they have contributed to WestBridge achieving an overall top quartile fund performance.

“These promotions are well deserved and we look forward to announcing new members of the team over the next few months.”