Graphite Private Equity

Chief Investment Officer Hugh Peppiatt leads the investment team, with oversight from Chairman Mike Tilbury and CEO Mark Hall. The Investment Committee includes several senior partners, most of whom have been with the firm since its spinout from Barclays in 2001. Day-to-day deal execution is run by a partnership group that averages more than 15 years of tenure at the firm.

Graphite sources through a network of UK and European intermediaries built since its Barclays Private Equity origins in the 1990s. The firm targets succession-driven exits, corporate carve-outs of non-core divisions, and buy-and-build platforms where founders seek institutional backing. Graphite has historically emphasized a relationship-driven approach, with portfolio CEOs and operating partners generating repeat deal flow.

Graphite invests exclusively through direct control-equity buyouts and direct lending — it does not operate a fund-of-funds program. The firm makes equity and debt investments from its own institutional vehicles. Limited partners commit to Graphite's flagship equity funds and its parallel credit fund, but the firm does not invest as an LP in third-party managers.

Graphite targets mature, profitable companies in the UK mid-market, typically with enterprise values between £25m and £250m. The firm avoids venture-stage risk and focuses on businesses with established cash flows, strong market positions, and clear operational levers it can pull to improve performance. Growth capital is occasionally deployed in buy-and-build scenarios.

Graphite has historically avoided highly regulated industries such as defense, tobacco, and speculative natural resources. The firm also stays away from pre-revenue technology businesses and real estate development. Its mandate centers on services, consumer, and industrial businesses where operational intervention can generate the majority of value creation.

Graphite was formed in a 2001 management buyout of Barclays Private Equity, the in-house buyout arm of the UK bank. Mike Tilbury led the spinout with Barclays retaining a minority stake and seed capital for the first independent fund. The relationship has since diminished over successive funds, and Graphite now operates fully independently with an institutional LP base that includes pension funds and endowments.

Yes. Graphite operates a senior secured direct-lending fund alongside its flagship equity vehicles. This allows the firm to provide acquisition financing on its own deals and to originate credit opportunities independently. The credit team sits within the same regulated entity, Graphite Capital Management LLP, and the structure gives Graphite a sourcing advantage on transactions where speed and certainty of financing matter.