YFM makes two key promotions in its investment team

Published by

Stephen Emerson

YFM Equity Partners has made two promotions

Private equity house, YFM Equity Partners (YFM), has made two promotions within its investment team.

YFM, which has offices in Reading, London, Birmingham, Leeds and Manchester, has promoted Helen Villiers to investment director and Ben Pitt to investment manager.

Having joined YFM as an investment manager in June 2019 after five years with Grant Thornton, Helen Villiers has become a central figure in originating, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities, including the primary buyout of fire and electrical compliance specialist RGE in April last year.

Helen also represents YFM on the board of global aviation services provider ACC.

Ben Pitt joined YFM as investment associate last year after four years with EY. Since joining, he has been working to support the origination and execution of new investments including the £3.5m growth capital investment in developmental governance platform Quality Clouds and the complex acquisition of Explorer UK by DSP, an existing YFM investment, to become one of the largest Oracle partners in the UK.

Jamie Roberts, partner and head of new investments in the South for YFM, said: “These promotions reflect our commitment to building out the team after a year of significant activity having made five new investments and 10 further investments into the portfolio, investing a total of £37m.

“These two promotions are especially pleasing given that YFM was both Helen and Ben’s first role in private equity, and reflect our continued desire to bring new people in to the industry and support them as they build their careers and help us continue to grow the YFM business.”

This year celebrating its 40th anniversary, YFM typically invests between £2m and £10m per transaction into businesses with strong growth potential located across the UK regions.

Stephen Emerson

Stephen Emerson is the Managing Editor of The Business Magazine and is responsible for the publication's print publications and online properties including the newly launched Biz News websites in Hampshire and Dorset. Stephen has been a journalist for 20 years and has worked at local, regional and national publications and led a team which made The Scotsman website one of the fastest growing news sites in the UK with over eight million monthly users. He has a keen interest in technology, property and corporate finance and telling the stories of the people behind the successful firms in these sectors.