Partner Article

Key Capital Partners appoints Philip Duquenoy as partner

Leeds-based private equity house Key Capital Partners (KCP) has appointed Philip Duquenoy as partner, based at its London office.

Philip joined the firm three years ago as a director. Prior to that, he spent five years working as the chief financial officer at James Harvard International Group (JHI), a private equity backed international specialist recruitment business. During his time at JHI, Philip successfully managed the raising of private equity finance, the completion and integration of two successful bolt-on acquisitions and the sale of the business to Hays plc.

Philip began his career as a chartered accountant at Littlejohn Frazer (now PKF Littlejohn) within its audit and advisory team before joining PwC. In June 2000, he made the move into private equity by joining Granville Baird Partners (now Baird Capital Partners Europe) where he worked closely with KCP partners Owen Trotter and Mike Fell.

In his new role at Key Capital Partners, Philip will continue to use his expertise gained in both industry and private equity to identify new investment opportunities and support the development of the firm’s portfolio companies. Key Capital Partners recently announced the first closing of an £80m fund which is seeking to invest equity sums of between £3m and £15m in profitable, dynamic businesses.

During his time with Key Capital Partners, Philip has worked as a non-executive director in a number of the firm’s portfolio businesses including Hallam Medical and EarthStream Global. He also served on the board of Nurse Plus which was successfully exited in 2014.

Commenting on his new role at KCP, Philip said: “As SMEs continue to struggle to access equity investment of this size, working with KCP has given me the opportunity to support the growth plans of some really exciting businesses with huge potential. I look forward to continuing to work with Mike to increase the profile of our London office and to seek new investment opportunities.”

Mike Fell, partner at KCP and head of its London office, said: “With the first closing of our latest fund, the firm is entering another key phase of its development and we are confident that Philip will play a significant role in our continued success. He has more than proved his value and this promotion is well deserved recognition of the vital contribution Philip has made to our portfolio businesses and in helping to establish us as the leading investor in the smaller buy-out market.”

The firm has offices in London and Leeds.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Emma Kilmurray .