RichardStacy

Adding information to the Doughty Hanson entry

I am proposing to add some information to the Doughty Hanson entry. Disclosure: I am doing this at the request of Doughty Hanson, which is aware that the entry is only a stub and requires more information. This clearly raises a conflict of interest issue. For this reason I am publishing the information I propose to add to the entry here in the first instance in order that anyone interested can discuss the changes and/or go about the business of adding text if they wish.

In proposing information to add, I have referenced the guidance published by the WikiProject Private Equity Task Force in terms of information and structure. Thus the changes largely represent additional information on the history of the company, more information on investment policy and details on the amounts raised across all of the funds.

I am not an experienced Wikipedia editor - so supervision, assistance and contribution is invited.

In the absence of any response, I will work my way through adding the information (as proposed below) and suggest that if you have changes you want to make you do not alter the text below, but make suggestions on my talk page and/or introduce changes on the actual article itself.

Proposed text

(note: this is basically unformatted and hasn't got the necessary links and references included, which I will do as I add text)

Doughty Hanson & Co is an independent European investment manager focused on three separate activities within the private equity asset class: upper mid-market European buyouts; opportunistic European real estate; and early-stage European technology venture capital.

Since inception, Doughty Hanson has raised over €8 billion across its five private equity funds.

Doughty Hanson is headquartered in London and has offices in Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Stockholm.

History
Doughty Hanson traces its history back to 1985 when Nigel Doughty and Dick Hanson started working together on European buyout investments within Standard Chartered Bank as founding members of its management buyout unit. In 1990 they established CWB Partners, a private equity joint venture between Standard Chartered and Westdeutsche Landesbank.

Doughty Hanson was established as an independent firm in 1995. In 1999, the group expanded its activities with the formation of a real estate investment team and the following year it established a team to focus on early stage technology venture capital investing.

Investment strategy
Doughty Hanson’s three product areas operate as separate fund programmes but their investment strategies share certain key characteristics, including a focus on active ownership and a commitment to sustainable business practices.

Private Equity – Value Investing
Doughty Hanson’s buyout team focuses on majority ownership and control of market-leading businesses at the upper end of the European middle market with enterprise values between €250m and €1bn.

Real Estate – Asset Investing
Doughty Hanson is an opportunistic investor and developer active in the office, retail and logistics sectors. Investments range from the acquisition of existing single assets and portfolios to more complex developments and urban regeneration projects.

Technology Ventures – Growth Investing
The Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures team targets companies that develop sophisticated and proprietary technologies and focuses on three industry sectors: internet software, mobile communications and clean energy technology.

Responsible Investing
In June 2007 Doughty Hanson became one of the first private equity signatories to the United Nations Principles for Responsible Investment (provide link – www.unpri.org). The voluntary principles provide a highly practical framework for incorporating environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues into mainstream investment decision-making and ownership practices. A year later the group became the first private equity manager in Europe to hire a dedicated Head of Sustainability to focus on the implementation, management and monitoring of ESG issues across the Doughty Hanson portfolio.

Funds Raised

Private Equity Fund I £167m 1990

Private Equity Fund II DM 1bn 1995

Private Equity Fund III US$2.7bn 1998

Real Estate Fund I US$616m 2000

Technology Ventures Fund I US$237m 2000

Private Equity Fund IV €1.5bn 2004

Real Estate Fund II €530m 2005

Private Equity Fund V €3bn 2007

Representative Investments
RHM
The RHM Group has long been established as one of the leading food manufacturing groups in the UK. Originally founded in 1899, RHM was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2000 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in July 2005.

Priory
Priory Healthcare is the largest independent provider of mental health and rehabilitation services in the UK. Priory was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2002 and was sold in July 2005 in a transaction valued at £875m.

Saft
Saft is a manufacturer of high-end batteries for a wide range of niche applications, including aviation, railway, industrial stand-by, defence and emergency lighting. Saft was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2004 and the company was listed on Euronext, Paris, in June 2005.

Moeller
Moeller is one of the largest globally active manufacturers of low-voltage electrical distribution and automation components for industrial, commercial and residential applications. Moeller was acquired by Doughty Hanson in 2005 and sold in April 2008 in a transaction valued at EUR 1.65 billion.