Palatine Private Equity

Palatine Private Equity

Palatine Private Equity launched in 2005 when Gary Tipper, Tony Dickin and Andy Lees broke away from Bank of Scotland to establish an independent mid-market buyout firm anchored in Manchester. The partners built the firm around a conviction that the UK regional lower mid-market was underserved by the London-centric buyout community, and that proximity to portfolio companies in the Midlands and North of England would produce better sourcing and governance outcomes. The firm deploys equity cheques of £10 million to £50 million into profitable UK-headquartered businesses with enterprise values typically between £20 million and £150 million, targeting control positions in business services, technology, healthcare and consumer sectors. Palatine's signature structural feature is an in-house debt fund that provides acquisition finance to its own deals, reducing reliance on third-party lenders and accelerating certainty of close. Named portfolio companies include sustainable packaging manufacturer Amber Engineering, insurance services group Bartlett Group, and occupational health provider Newson Health. The firm executes an active buy-and-build strategy — Bartlett Group completed four add-on acquisitions within 18 months under Palatine's ownership (per Real Deals, 2023). The firm operates from Manchester and London with a team anchored by Managing Partner Gary Tipper and Partners Tony Dickin and Andy Lees. In 2017 the firm launched its impact fund strategy alongside its core buyout funds, creating a dedicated vehicle that targets measurable environmental and social outcomes alongside financial returns — an early move for a UK lower mid-market GP. The strategy has since raised multiple vintages and differentiates Palatine from peers that lack dedicated impact measurement frameworks. The firm's limited partners include UK pension funds, fund of funds and family offices, though specific fund sizes remain undisclosed. Palatine's dual in-house debt-and-equity structure is the firm's defining competitive moat, effectively bundling transaction certainty into the equity offering. This integration allows Palatine to write binding bids faster than competitors who must syndicate senior and unitranche debt lines, a critical advantage in auctions for founder-owned businesses where sellers value certainty of close above marginal price differences. The 2017 addition of an impact fund further distinguishes the platform, creating a rare UK lower mid-market firm that can offer either conventional buyout or impact-aligned capital from the same partnership.