NVM Private Equity has launched a new arm, Evolve Investments, to invest in ‘UK businesses suffering reduced profitability post-downturn’.

NVM Private Equity has launched a new arm, Evolve Investments, to invest in ‘UK businesses suffering reduced profitability post-downturn’.

Evolve, which will consider over-leveraged businesses as well as those that are fundamentally sound, is led by NVM executive director James Arrowsmith and two turnaround specialists, Ross Stuart and Ken Davies.

Arrowsmith says that the environment for under-performing companies is set to change significantly in the next 12 months as supportive measures from banks and the government are withdrawn or watered down.

Adds Arrowsmith, ‘We are seeking out businesses which have probably underperformed as a consequence of the recession so may be unable to fully service their existing debt, or have banks unwilling to maintain their level of exposure as it falls outside their current parameters.’

Stuart and Davies are both members of the Institute for Turnaround.

With offices in Newcastle and Reading, NVM manages £186 million of funds and specialises in making equity investments of between £2 million and £10 million.