Jon Moulton's Better Capital to seek listing
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Your support makes all the difference.Better Capital, the private equity firm set up Jon Moulton last month, is set to raise more than £100m in a public listing before Christmas.
Mr Moulton, who became one of the doyens of the buyout industry during its boom years in the middle of the decade, spectacularly quit Alchemy Partners, the firm he helped to establish, in September after a furious row over its strategy. Mr Moulton published his resignation letter, which savaged Dominic Slade who replaced him at the company's helm, saying that the decision to invest in the financial services sector was wrong.Yesterday's announcement by Better Capital is in stark contrast to Alchemy, which was reported to be paring back investments and fund raising earlier this week. Alchemy declined to comment.
Better Capital is opening offices in London's Covent Garden, just around the corner from Alchemy's premises, and in a sign that hostilities between Mr Moulton and his former employer have not thawed, it is unlikely that any senior Alchemy staff member will join his new venture. Earlier this month, Better hired Nick Sanders as its head of portfolio operations - a role that will see the former Duke Street Capital executive take on day-to-day responsibility for running Better's companies.
In an industry noted for its shunning of the limelight, Mr Moulton's very public departure from Alchemy was remarkable. In his resignation letter, Mr Moulton lambasted the decision to change the group's focus. "Alchemy is not what it was," he said. "Dominic Slade now wishes to convert the firm into a specialist financial services firm. I do not support this strategy. It's contrary to the positioning we have created with investors and deal sources, and wastes a spectacular opportunity in our area of perceived greatest strength."
In a recent interview with The Independent, Mr Moulton warned that "unless we have dramatic action, we're doomed to low growth, no growth, or going slightly downwards. Countries can't manage public debt at 100 per cent of GDP for very long. One day we'll wake up and discover that no foreigner will buy gilts - and we've had it".
Jon Moulton made his name during his ultimately unsuccessful attempt to buy MG Rover in 2000, and has become a household name, commenting widely on the credit crisis and before that, on the controversial tax relief afforded to private equity executives.
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