Investment Team

Paul is Chairman of Literacy Capital, which he co-founded with Richard in 2017 having raised £54 million of capital from investors. He was a founder of Capita and CEO until his retirement in 2014. Since then, he has been a Chairman and investor in a number of businesses

Capita (1987 – 2014)

Paul co-founded the business in 1987 with a £330,000 management buyout, when Capita had 33 employees and £1.3 million of annual revenue

He took the business through an IPO in 1989. By his retirement as CEO in Feb 2014, Capita was a FTSE 100 company (the 52nd largest UK listed company by market cap) with more than 62,000 employees and an enterprise value of £8.5 billion

Purplebricks (2014 – current)

Paul joined the Board shortly after the business began trading and completed a funding round valuing it at £5 million

The business floated on AIM in December 2015 at a valuation of £240 million and he has been non-Executive Chairman since

ITC Luxury Travel (2014 – 2016)

Paul became Non-Executive Chairman & 42.5% shareholder after backing the MBO. This allowed the founding family, who founded ITC in 1974, to sell a majority of the business

During Paul's two-year involvement, the business completed the first acquisition in its history and trebled its profits, before it was sold to a private equity firm

Paul was also Chairman of two large healthcare businesses between 2012 and 2020. IDH (now mydentist), the UK's largest chain of dentists, for Carlyle Private Equity and ICS (now Acacium), a leading provider of healthcare services, for Towerbrook

Previously Paul has also been Chairman of corporate fundraising Boards for both the NSPCC (2004-2007) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (2008-2012)

Richard is CEO of Literacy Capital, which he co-founded in 2017 with Paul. Literacy Capital initially raised £54 million whilst private. In June 2021, Literacy Capital plc was admitted to the London Stock Exchange having grown organically since the initial fundraise. Prior to setting up Literacy Capital, he had a background in investing, private equity and acting as a consultant to private equity businesses

Lonsdale Capital Partners (2015 – 2017)

Richard worked for Lonsdale Capital Partners, a low mid-market private equity firm with a focus on investing in businesses across the UK, Ireland and Europe generating EBITDA of £2 million to £7 million

KPMG (2011 – 2015)

Richard worked in Corporate Finance initially, working in a lead advisory M&A capacity

His final two years involved time in the Private Equity Group within Transaction Services and performing financial due diligence for large private equity client, as well as qualifying as an ACA with the ICAEW

Miral joined Literacy Capital in March 2018. She has an M&A advisory background, working with owner-managed businesses, listed companies and private equity across various sectors

KPMG LLP (2009 - 2014; 2017 - 2018)

Miral spent six years in the M&A Corporate Finance team at KPMG, advising clients in the mid-market space on buy and sell-side transactions across a range of sectors including Consumer & Business Services

She established a strong foundation of technical and commercial knowledge through working across numerous, complex M&A processes

Miral is ACA qualified with the ICAEW

HSBC Bank Plc (2014 – 2016)

Miral worked in the M&A Execution team within the Investment Banking arm of HSBC, gaining further experience on larger private company transactions and expanding her M&A skill set to include working with multinational public entities, ranging from deals with an enterprise value of £200m to many billions

Jesse joined Literacy Capital in May 2018. He has a background primarily in Transaction Services, providing financial due diligence to large European private equity funds

KPMG LLP (2014 - 2018)

Jesse spent three years in the Private Equity Group within Transaction Services, providing financial due diligence to private equity funds on acquisitions and disposals of portfolio companies across a broad range of sectors

During his final six months at KPMG, he completed a secondment to the Managing Partner's office, working on strategic and financial projects for the UK firm

Jesse is ACA qualified with the ICAEW

Prior to starting at KPMG, as part of a gap year Jesse worked for a start-up (LaundryRepublic) based in London and completed an internship at a hedge fund in Shanghai

James joined Literacy in June 2022. He qualified as an accountant before moving into advisory, working with entrepreneurs in the lower mid-market on transactions and raising capital. He subsequently moved into investing where he has almost 10 years’ experience working with companies in the UK and mainland Europe.

Lonsdale Capital (2015 to 2021)

James spent 7 years with Lonsdale, initially working on deal-by-deal transactions before assisting with their 2015 fundraising and the subsequent investment of their lower mid-market fund. His role covered all three elements of private equity; origination, execution and portfolio management and although there was some consumer concentration, James was a generalist.

Risk Capital Partners (2013 to 2014)

James spent just under 2 years with Risk helping them to invest their £75m fund in consumer/leisure assets in the UK. He was principally involved with deal execution working on Cruise.co, Neilson Holidays and Laines Pubco.

Alantra UK (2010 to 2013)

He joined the Birmingham office of Alantra with a focus on advising entrepreneurs on fund raisings and exits. James also worked on several private equity buy-side mandates and distressed exits for banks and debt funds.

PwC (2004 to 2010)

James joined PwC as a graduate, initially in their audit team before achieving his accountancy qualification and spending 18 months in Transaction Services focused on private equity.

Olly joined Literacy Capital in April 2020. He has a background in corporate finance, providing M&A and fundraising advice to a broad range of clients in both the public and private markets

Numis Securities Ltd (2014 – 2020)

Olly spent close to six years in the Investment Banking Division; advising on and executing buy-side and sell-side M&A transactions, both domestic and cross-border, and a broad spectrum of public and private fundraisings

In addition to his transaction experience, he provided ongoing corporate broking advice to a stable of UK-listed corporate clients of varying shapes and sizes, primarily in the Consumer sector

TotallyMoney Ltd (2012 – 2014)

After graduating with a degree in mathematics, Olly began his career as a Business Development Analyst for a private equity owned financial services and digital marketing business

Jeroen joined Literacy Capital in October 2021. He has a background in Institutional Equities, serving public market investors, and management consulting, for large corporates and financial sponsors. Most recently, he spent 3 years running a tech start-up

Jeroen spent three years as Co-Founder and CEO of an online staffing platform, which he exited in summer 2021

Jeroen spent five years within Sales and Trading in the Markets division. He ran US Institutional Equities distribution into continental European pension funds, insurance companies and asset managers

Jeroen spent two years advising corporate and financial sponsor clients on strategy, operational improvement, and commercial due diligence. He had broad sector experience across financial institutions, consumer industries and TMT

Tom joined Literacy Capital in August 2019. He has a background in fund finance and accounting for both retail and institutional funds

Octopus Healthcare (2017 - 2019)

Tom spent two and a half years working with two institutional funds which invested in healthcare real estate. His responsibilities included investor reporting, cashflow management and supporting the deal team on acquisitions

Octopus Investments (2013 - 2017)

Tom worked in the treasury team initially, supporting a large retail fund

His final two years were spent as a management accountant for a portfolio of solar companies where his work included reporting, managing FX forward contracts and tax compliance

Sainsbury's Supermarkets (2011 - 2013)

Tom spent the first year of his career within the Finance Operations team at Sainsbury's

Tom is ACCA qualified since February 2016