Pollen Street Capital acquires majority stake in Leonard Curtis

Pollen Street has announced that it has acquired a majority stake in business restructuring provider Leonard Curtis.

Leonard Curtis multi-disciplinary professional services firm, which is headquartered in Manchester, has over 30 years’ experience providing restructuring, legal, funding, mergers & acquisitions. advisory and other business services to SMEs and corporates. The business has a strong national footprint and deep sector expertise, as it has expanded rapidly through organic growth, geographical expansion and acquisitions, resulting in headcount increasing to over 330 employees across 30 offices.

The group will continue to be led by current CEO Dan Booth and Pollen Street’s investment will accelerate growth across the platform through product expansion, technology and mergers and acqusitions.

Pollen Street was supported by Manchester-headquartered private credit investor TDC, and the deal will see the successful exit for family investment office Arete Capital Partners and SVELLA Plc, who took a significant stake in August 2021.

Jonathan Guest, Investment Director at Pollen Street, said “Leonard Curtis is a high-quality business with a proven model, experienced leadership, and has demonstrated strong organic growth in the UK and offshore. 

“We are proud of our track record of supporting fast-growing players in the financial and business services ecosystems and are looking forward to partnering with the team for the next stage of Leonard Curtis’s growth, as it diversifies and scales organically, and further consolidates the fragmented UK professional services market.”

Leonard Curtis CEO Dan Booh said “The partnership and investment from Pollen Street Capital, together with support from TDC, will allow the business to move forward and better execute our plans to grow and develop the group.

“We have our sights on building a business that is sustainable for many years to come and to represent something that we can all be proud to be a part of. None of this would be possible without the hard work, commitment and brilliance of our people.  We are building something very special here, and I truly hope we all continue this journey together to be better every day.  In years to come, we all want to be able to look back and know we played a positive part.”

Gary Davison, Managing Partner at TDC, said “Leonard Curtis is a true Manchester success story, having expanded its presence across the UK and into new service lines. Together with Pollen Street, this deal will help to further accelerate this growth, with a strong management team in place to deliver on some ambitious strategic plans.

“As a Manchester-headquartered business ourselves, we’re particularly proud to be supporting a business on our own patch, uplifting our region while driving UK-wide growth.”