Where are they now? Pierce Casey
THE dealmaker and private equity mogul has just made a £1m punt on the recruitment sector.
After attending the local CBS in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, he went on to Clongowes Wood and then UCD. He qualified as an accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers in the 1970s, then cut his venture capitalist teeth working with DCC in Dublin, going on to head up its London shop.
He left and founded Equity & Corporate Finance in 1988. Through it, he invested in and built up businesses, including recruiter Walker Hamill and IT outfits Fayrewood and ComputerLinks.
He led the buyout, famously for just Fr1, of Omnilogic, a European computer distribution company. It was turned around and sold for $12m in 1996, a year later. Walker Hamill sold for €26m in 1998.
Casey went on to co-found search and selection business Imprint in 2001, which had market capitalisation of €200m when he retired from it in 2007.
British private equity big wig Jon Moulton tasked him with setting up VC Alchemy's Dublin office in 2001. Deals included buying energy firm Viridian for £200m and doubling its money in a year-long $88m investment in e-learning group Riverdeep.
He founded Fitzwilliam Capital, which floated in 2004. It audaciously raised €62m, buying and swiftly floating Getmobile in 2005. A year later, however, it was valued at just €9m and has had its ups and downs since. Casey sold off his €1.2m stake in February and stepped down from the board in March.
He owns investment vehicle Adelaide Capital.
Casey has teamed with Moulton to put £1m each into AIM listed City of London headhunter Garner, which owns Norman Broadbent. Under the latter name, the plan is to restructure and expand into the US, Latin America and Asia.
- ROISIN BURKE
Originally published in
