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Appointment - Craig Hopwood

Aberdeen Asset Managers Private Equity Division has appointed Craig Hopwood as Senior Investment Manager.

Following the recent restructuring of the business into two teams, Private Equity and Growth Capital, Craig will join the Private Equity team which is focused on deals valued at between £10-50m across the UK. The team has a focus on support services, specialist manufacturing, consumer and leisure and financial services. Craig will expand investment in these areas to build on recent deals such as Styles & Wood, Brookhouse and Driver Hire.

Craig previously spent four years as a Director within HSBC's Leverage Finance team, with responsibility for their Leeds office. Craig led a number of deals over this period for HSBC including, most recently, Interflora, Olan Mills and CET Group. Prior to this, he spent time within PwC's Transaction Services team based in London and latterly their Corporate Finance Private Equity advisory team based in Leeds. He has broad corporate finance experience of mid-market transactions including acquisitions, MBOs, MBIs, cashouts and refinancings.

Craig Hopwood commented "Over the last couple of years I have worked closely with Aberdeen on a number of projects. I was impressed by the way they approached transactions and the resources they brought to bear. Their recent re-alignment of the business provides them with strong prospects with respect to mid-market private equity transactions and I am looking forward to this great opportunity".

Francesco Santinon, Head of Investment, Private Equity said:

"Craig represents our second significant new appointment since the restructuring of our Private Equity business. Craig will focus entirely on new investment opportunities in our four core sectors where he gained valuable experience at both HSBC and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Craig joins a national team although he will predominantly focus on deals across the North of England. "