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Outdoor clothing brands

Equip Outdoor Technologies is the owner of the Rab range of performance clothing.

We worked alongside a leading clearing bank, providing the £4.5mn equity and VCT loan component of an overall £20mn funding package.

We also introduced a Chairman at completion with a strong background in the clothing, textiles and branded sectors. It was crucial for Equip to work with a reliable funding partner that would deliver on time and on agreed terms.

This was a complex transaction with significant expertise required to understand the working capital and funding requirements.

Investment rationale

We initially provided finance back in 2011 to enable Equip to acquire the Lowe Alpine clothing and rucksack brand from its Italian administrator.

We realised the majority of our investment in November 2022, realising a 6.9x* money multiple on our original investment

The equity stake will be bought out via a refinancing, involving funding through increased credit facilities from a new bank, with HSBC UK replacing Santander.

We continue to provide funding to the business via an existing loan which will remain in place.

*as at November 2022, Gresham House.

Investment Team

Ed Wass

Portfolio Director

Ed brings over 20 years’ experience of helping SMEs to create and realise shareholder value to his role. He has been working with our management teams since 2017 to help them achieve their ambitions for growth and has overseen several notable exits in that time, including Automated Systems Group, Access-IS and Auction Technology Group. He also led the successful IPO of Virgin Wines in 2021.

It is a pleasure to work with so many great businesses and fantastic management teams.  It is a real privilege to be involved in the growth of the exciting companies that Gresham House invests in and to contribute to their ongoing success.

Ed is on the board of several businesses, including Virgin Wines, RotaGeek, Airfinity and Vivacity Labs. His previous roles include CIO at Catapult Ventures and at PwC in both Assurance and Business Recovery Services.

Ed was named as one of Real Deals’ Future 40 Investment Leaders in April 2021.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Ancient History and is a Chartered Accountant (ICAEW).

Outside of work Ed enjoys spending time with his family and whenever possible chasing after a ball of some description (cricket, golf, tennis and fives) – sometimes these happen together.

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Bob Henry

Portfolio Director

Bob’s focus is on maximising the potential of a number of portfolio companies. Historically he has specialized in construction, food manufacturing and sports equipment

I have the privilege of working with some exceptional teams in businesses with real potential and continue to learn from them.

Bob joined as part of our acquisition of the Mobeus VCT contracts. He joined the Mobeus VCT team in 1998 and was one of the Partners when they completed a management buyout from the Matrix Group in 2012.

Bob was previously at HSBC where he was Head of HSBC Ventures and prior to that spent time at County Bank.

He holds a BA (Hons) in Business Studies.

Outside work Bob enjoys long-distance walking, travel, gardening, modern literature, theatre, good restaurants and family time.

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