Doughty Hanson & Co
Encyclopedia
Doughty Hanson & Co is a British
private equity
fund manager focused on leveraged buyout
and recapitalization
transactions primarily of upper middle-market companies in Europe. The firm also invests opportunistically in European real estate
and provides early stage venture capital
to technology companies.
Doughty Hanson is headquartered in London
and has offices in Frankfurt
, Madrid
, Milan
, Munich
, Paris
and Stockholm
.
The firm which was founded in 1985 by Nigel Doughty
and Richard Hanson is one of the oldest European buyout private equity firm
s. Since its inception, the firm has invested over €23 billion across more than 100 investments.
as founding members of its management buyout unit. In 1990 they established CWB Partners, a private equity joint venture between Standard Chartered and Westdeutsche Landesbank.
Doughty Hanson was established as an independent firm in 1995. In 1999, the group expanded its activities with the formation of a real estate
investment team and the following year it established a team to focus on early stage technology venture capital
investing.
issues into investment decision-making and ownership practices. A year later the firm became the first private equity manager in Europe to hire a dedicated Head of Sustainability to focus on the implementation, management and monitoring of ESG issues across the Doughty Hanson portfolio.
s.
The following is a summary of the investment funds raised to date by Doughty Hanson:
In 2007, Doughty completed fundraising for its fifth private equity fund with €3.0 billion of investor commitments. This came just two years after the firm had wrapped up a difficult fundraising for Doughty Hanson IV, in 2004 which had only generated €1.6 billion of investor commitments compared with the firm's original €3.0 billion target. Doughty Hanson III, raised in 1997 had been a €2.7 billion investment fund.
Other notable investments include: TMF Group
, TV3 (Ireland), Tumi Inc., Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group
, Caudwell Group and LM Glasfiber
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
private equity
Private equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
fund manager focused on leveraged buyout
Leveraged buyout
A leveraged buyout occurs when an investor, typically financial sponsor, acquires a controlling interest in a company's equity and where a significant percentage of the purchase price is financed through leverage...
and recapitalization
Leveraged recapitalization
In corporate finance, a leveraged recapitalization is a change of the capital structure of a company, a substitution of equity for debt —e.g. by issuing bonds to raise money, and using that money to buy the company's stock or to pay dividends...
transactions primarily of upper middle-market companies in Europe. The firm also invests opportunistically in European real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
and provides early stage venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
to technology companies.
Doughty Hanson is headquartered in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and has offices in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
and Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
The firm which was founded in 1985 by Nigel Doughty
Nigel Doughty
Nigel Doughty, born in 1957 in Newark, Nottinghamshire, is co-chairman and co-founder of Doughty Hanson & Co, a European private equity firm based in London and with offices throughout Europe....
and Richard Hanson is one of the oldest European buyout private equity firm
Private equity firm
A private equity firm is an investment manager that makes investments in the private equity of operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including leveraged buyout, venture capital, and growth capital...
s. Since its inception, the firm has invested over €23 billion across more than 100 investments.
History
Doughty Hanson traces its history back to 1985 when Nigel Doughty and Richard (Dick) Hanson started working together on European buyout investments within Standard Chartered BankStandard Chartered Bank
Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...
as founding members of its management buyout unit. In 1990 they established CWB Partners, a private equity joint venture between Standard Chartered and Westdeutsche Landesbank.
Doughty Hanson was established as an independent firm in 1995. In 1999, the group expanded its activities with the formation of a real estate
Real estate
In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...
investment team and the following year it established a team to focus on early stage technology venture capital
Venture capital
Venture capital is financial capital provided to early-stage, high-potential, high risk, growth startup companies. The venture capital fund makes money by owning equity in the companies it invests in, which usually have a novel technology or business model in high technology industries, such as...
investing.
Investment strategy
Doughty Hanson’s three product areas operate as separate fund families:- Private Equity – Doughty Hanson’s buyout team focuses on majority ownership and control of market-leading businesses at the upper end of the European middle-market with enterprise valueEnterprise valueEnterprise value , Total enterprise value , or Firm value is an economic measure reflecting the market value of a whole business. It is a sum of claims of all the security-holders: debtholders, preferred shareholders, minority shareholders, common equity holders, and others...
s between €250m and €1bn.
- Real Estate – Doughty Hanson is an opportunistic investor and developer active in the office, retail and logistics sectors. Investments range from the acquisition of existing single assets and portfolios to more complex developments and urban regeneration projects.
- Technology Ventures – The Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures team targets technology companies within three industry sectors: internet software, mobile communications and clean energy technology.
Responsible Investing
In June 2007 Doughty Hanson became one of the first private equity signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI), which provide a framework for incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG)Corporate social responsibility
Corporate social responsibility is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model...
issues into investment decision-making and ownership practices. A year later the firm became the first private equity manager in Europe to hire a dedicated Head of Sustainability to focus on the implementation, management and monitoring of ESG issues across the Doughty Hanson portfolio.
Investment funds
Since inception, Doughty Hanson has raised over €8 billion across its five private equity fundPrivate equity fund
A private equity fund is a collective investment scheme used for making investments in various equity securities according to one of the investment strategies associated with private equity....
s.
The following is a summary of the investment funds raised to date by Doughty Hanson:
| Fund | Vintage Year | Committed Capital (millions) |
| Private Equity Fund I | 1990 | £167 |
| Private Equity Fund II | 1995 | DM 1,000 |
| Private Equity Fund III | 1998 | $2,700 |
| Real Estate Fund I | 2000 | $616 |
| Technology Ventures Fund I | 2000 | $237 |
| Private Equity Fund IV | 2004 | € 1,500 |
| Real Estate Fund II | 2005 | € 530 |
| Private Equity Fund V | 2007 | € 3,000 |
In 2007, Doughty completed fundraising for its fifth private equity fund with €3.0 billion of investor commitments. This came just two years after the firm had wrapped up a difficult fundraising for Doughty Hanson IV, in 2004 which had only generated €1.6 billion of investor commitments compared with the firm's original €3.0 billion target. Doughty Hanson III, raised in 1997 had been a €2.7 billion investment fund.
Portfolio companies
The following investments are representative of Doughty Hanson's portfolio of private companies:- The RHM Group - RHM was among the leading food manufacturing groups in the UK. Originally founded in 1899, RHM was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2000 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2005.
- Priory Healthcare is the largest independent provider of mental health and rehabilitation services in the UK. Priory was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2002 and was sold in July 2005 in a transaction valued at £875m.
- Saft Groupe S.A. - Saft is a manufacturer of high-end batteries for a wide range of niche applications, including aviation, railway, industrial stand-by, defence and emergency lighting. Saft was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2004 and the company was listed on Euronext, Paris, in June 2005.
- Moeller - Moeller is one of the largest globally active manufacturers of low-voltage electrical distribution and automation components for industrial, commercial and residential applications. Moeller was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2005 and sold in April 2008 in a transaction valued at € 1.65 billion.
Other notable investments include: TMF Group
TMF Group
TMF Group is an independent provider of accounting, corporate secretarial and HR and payroll administrative services to businesses operating on an international scale....
, TV3 (Ireland), Tumi Inc., Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group
Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group
Dunlop Standard Aerospace Group Ltd was formed in 1998 from the assets of BTR Aerospace Group when they were purchased by Doughty Hanson & Co.In 2004 the company was sold and split into two...
, Caudwell Group and LM Glasfiber
LM Glasfiber
LM Wind Power is the largest manufacturer of wind turbine blades in the world. LM Wind Power has manufactured more than 130,000 blades since 1978, contributing to saving nature more than 74 million tons of each year....
.
Notable alumni
- James MaxJames MaxJames Max is a journalist and radio presenter specialising in business issues. He currently presents programmes for London speech radio station LBC 97.3. He was a semi-finalist on the first series of the British version of The Apprentice television programme.- Pre-Apprentice :Born in London in May...
- journalist and radio presenter specialising in business issues and was a semi-finalist on the first series of the British version of The Apprentice television programme. - Mark FlormanMark FlormanMark Florman is a British businessman. He is a co-founder and former CEO of Maizels, Westerberg & Co.-Professional background:Florman graduated from the London School of Economics and Political Science in 1981....
- founder and former CEO of Maizels, Westerberg & Co.Maizels, Westerberg & Co.Maizels, Westerberg & Co. was a leading independent investment banking firm, specialising in major corporate finance transactions in the Nordic countries...
External links
- Doughty Hanson & Co (company website)