History
The firm which is based in London was founded in 1988 as Hambro European Ventures, the private equity investment arm of Hambros Bank. The principals of the firm completed a spinout from Hambros in 1998, following the bank's sale to Société Générale, and changed the name of the firm to Duke Street Capital Management Services[2] and in 2008 to Duke Street Management Services.[3] In June 2013, Duke Street sold a 35 per cent stake in itself to Tikehau Group, a French fund manager.[4][5] In August 2018, the company rebranded as Duke Street Capital.[6] The firm's managing partners are Charlie Troup[7] and James Almond.[8]
The firm has raised approximately £2.6 billion since inception across six private equity investment funds.[9]
Duke Street, with Hutton Collins, acquired noodle restaurant chain Wagamama in March 2011 for £215 million from Lion Capital[10][11] and announced its funding of the national and international expansion of the business.[12]
In February 2012, Duke Street acquired a majority stake in legal services firm Parabis Group.[13][14] In December 2014, Duke Street invested a further £13 million into Parabis Group to support substantial reforms in response to the Legal Services Act 2007,[15] but in 2015, wrote down their £21.4 million investment.[16]
Among the firm's other notable investments are Gala Bingo,[17] Equity Insurance Group,[18][19] Burton's Foods,[20] Esporta Health Clubs, Getty Images, The Original Factory Shop, LM Funerals, Marie Brizard,[21] Megabowl Oasis,[22] Great Mills[23] and Payzone.[24] In August 2014, Duke Street together with Partners Group and Tikehau, acquired Voyage Care, a British care provider for people with different needs, from HG Capital for the sum of £ 375 million.[25] In August 2015, Duke Street, with Searchlight Capital Partners, acquired controlling interests in two British construction equipment rental firms, Fork Rent and One Call Hire.[26] In October 2017, Duke Street, backed by Goldman Sachs, acquired TeamSport Go Karting,[27][28] the largest UK go karting operator ranking second largest globally, which was bought out by management in 2013.[29]
In July 2018, Duke Street, for a sum of around £100million, became the new owner of Great Rail Journeys, a tour operator that offers escorted worldwide rail tour holidays, based in York.[30][31]
In June 2021, Duke Street acquired the German consumer gardening products producer and distributor COMPO, based in Münster.[32][33]
In November 2022, Duke Street acquired engineering services firm Suir Engineering from Dalkia and EDF Energy.[34][35] In July 2024, Duke Street acquired Agito Medical, a provider of medical imaging equipment, spare parts and pre-owned equipment based in Aalborg, Denmark, from Philips for an undisclosed amount.[36][37][38]
In December 2024, Duke Street acquired ForLife Group, a distributor of specialist stoma care products in the German and UK markets, from German healthcare provider GHD Gesundheits GmbH in a carve out deal.[39][40]
