Kester Capital

What is Kester Capital?

Kester Capital is a London-based private equity firm, focusing on providing first-time institutional capital to ambitious UK small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). With an entrepreneurial approach and over 100 years of collective investment experience, they partner closely with management teams to accelerate growth organically and through acquisitions. Founded in 2007, their investment strategy targets sectors such as healthcare, technology, information & data, consumer, media, financial services, hardware & manufacturing, healthtech & fitness, software, IT, TMT, business solutions, and FinTech.

Kester Capital typically invests in companies with an enterprise value of £15-100 million and makes equity investments greater than £15 million. Their portfolio often benefits from bolt-on acquisitions, with 75% of companies experiencing this kind of support.

Kester Capital is known for its value-adding support to management teams, focusing on responsible investment with ESG factors at the core of their investment philosophy. Their expertise in equity, specialties in expansion, and MBO/LBO transactions reinforce their position as a prominent player in the private equity landscape.

The firm is also appreciative of the importance of innovation and evolution within the investment space, engaging in sectors that present long-term growth opportunities such as clinical research, drug discovery, global regulatory intelligence, pet retail, and outsourced marine catering management.

Their recent investments have seen them venture into areas of clinical trial services, regulatory consulting services for pharmaceutical and biotech sectors, market access consulting, data analytics for data centers, and software for drug discovery.

The firm values the combination of strong market positioning, innovation, and capable management teams to drive success and generate formidable investment returns. Notable portfolio companies include EMAS Pharma, The Boundary, GXP Engaged, MAP Patient Access, DC Byte, Rephine, Optibrium, YouGarden, VIXIO, Jollyes, Atec Group, Avania, Frontier Medical Group, AgriBriefing, and Garrets International.

What they say:

We are a prominent private equity firm operating in the UK mid-market.

What we look for: We invest in mid-market private equity opportunities.