Richard Brown
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Hey Richard — similar IB → PE path (CS & Greenhill in London on my end). been thinking a lot about proprietary origination in permanent capital / consumer lately. would be good to connect.
Hey Richard, looks like we share a similar IB → investing path, though I was in London at Greenhill not Morgan Stanley like you. origination was always the same story for me — clear thesis, decent relationships, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas were never really connected. every deal virtually sourced from scratch, nothing compounding over time. curious if that's still how most funds operate or if I'm behind the times? — Russ
Hey Richard, looks like we came up through a similar IB → investment path, though I was at Greenhill doing M&A in London not at Morgan Stanley & Peel Hunt like you — and ended up on the buy side at a growth equity fund rather than running a permanent capital vehicle like Castelnau. the pattern I keep seeing with most funds is weirdly consistent — strong thesis, solid network, but no proprietary system of record. the people, tools and ideas are never really connected, so every deal is virtually sourced from scratch. nothing compounds on itself. curious if that resonates or if you've built something different at Castelnau? — Russ
hey Richard — no worries if the timing's off. most funds I talk to have tried some version of building origination in-house — analyst pulling from Pitchbook or Grata, maybe using ChatGPT to help qualify, dumping it into a spreadsheet. each piece kind of works, but there's no system of record tying it together. the people, tools and ideas are all disconnected, so nothing compounds. been helping a few funds like Mentmore work through that. curious if you've run into the same thing at Castelnau? — Russ
totally get it if origination infrastructure isn't top of mind right now — most funds have 10 things ahead of it on the priority list. the funds I've seen crack it early just tend to compound deal flow in a way that's hard to replicate later. if it ever moves up the list, I'm easy to find. — Russ
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Richard — We've been building deal sourcing infrastructure for investment groups acquiring and growing portfolio companies across consumer and tech — and Castelnau came up while i was poking around. we share a similar-ish path too. I did a few years in TMT M&A at Greenhill in London before moving to the investor side at a growth equity fund. One of our clients, Backer Group, uses our system to source founder- and family-run businesses → score them on owner readiness and acquisition fit → then run personalized outreach (email, LinkedIn, letters). Small team, so origination just runs in the background while they focus on the portfolio. Everything hooks into their CRM. Given Castelnau's M&A ambitions (and the graduate scheme you launched to help execute on them), I wondered if you wanted to take a look under the hood and see if any of this infrastructure could complement what you're building. I'm fairly free this week and next, just let me know a time that suits. Russ searchloop.ai linkedin.com/in/russellt23
Prospect Research
## PROSPECT INFORMATION: Name: Richard Brown Title: Chief Executive Officer Fund: Castelnau Group Ltd Background: Richard Brown is the CEO of Castelnau Group Ltd, a position he has held since September 2023. Based in the United Kingdom, he describes his firm as a highly differentiated investment company that provides long-term capital and strategic guidance to businesses with strong competitive advantages. In February 2024, he also took on a role as a Non-Executive Director (NED) for Dignity Funerals Ltd. Prior to his leadership at Castelnau, Richard built an extensive career in financial services and investment banking, including over seven years at Morgan Stanley (UK & Ireland) and five years at Peel Hunt in Corporate Finance. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant (FCA) through KPMG UK and holds a BSc in Psychology from the University of York. Key skills and focus areas include investment banking, capital allocation, M&A execution, valuations, and strategic board optimization for portfolio companies. Relevant LinkedIn Posts: November 4, 2025: Richard reshared a post from his sister, Katy Simmonds, regarding her new business. He wrote: "Incredibly proud of my sister Katy Simmonds taking the huge, and I am sure scary, step of launching her own recruitment consultancy - LR Talent... I have total faith in you, and would happily recommend you to any of my colleagues/ network." July 7, 2024: A company update regarding board optimizations. Richard shared: "One of the targets Castelnau Group Ltd set out at the start of 2024 was to optimise the boards of our portfolio companies, aiming to bring in new talent to maximise their effectiveness." He mentioned the appointments of Zillah Byng-Thorne at Dignity Funerals, Richard Thompson at The Cambium Group, and Ian Griffiths at Strand Collectibles Group. February 23, 2024: Commenting on a strategic move for a portfolio company, he noted: "Exciting developments at #Hornby this morning!" after Frasers Group took a strategic 8.9% stake in Hornby Hobbies Ltd. November 24, 2023: Promoting the firm's growth, he posted: "Excited to flag that we have launched our new graduate scheme this week. Genuinely unique opportunity to learn from leading entrepreneurs, get deeply involved in our portfolio companies (including rotations), as well as help to execute our future M&A ambitions." September 14, 2023: Announcing his move to CEO, he wrote: "Extremely excited to update that I have just started as CEO of Castelnau Group... I am delighted to be joining such a great business - having had the opportunity to get to know it well having acted on the acquisition of Dignity as an adviser." He added that the firm focuses on "helping its businesses flourish by adding significant strategic and operational guidance where needed." Fund details: - Description: Castelnau Group Limited was formed by Phoenix Asset Management Partners and listed on the SFS (Specialist Fund Segment) of the LSE on the 18th October 2021. An investment in Castelnau Group (CGL) involves a high degree of risk, including the risk that the entire amount invested may be lost. Castelnau is suitable for professional investors and ‘High Net Worth’ and ‘Sophisticated’ retail investors only. The listed structure provides the manager with a permanent capital vehicle with which to make long-term investments and acquisitions of all structures and sizes. The business of Castelnau Group Limited is capital allocation. This means that Castelnau Group Limited sits at the centre of the companies it holds and helps to divert resources towards the most valuable opportunities. Conversely, it is also Castelnau's responsibility to restrict investment into areas that don't make sense. This includes making investments externally and moving resources around between holdings. The aim of all the activity conducted by Castelnau Group Limited is to optimise shareholder value. We do this through our decisions when allocating capital and optimising the capital structure. For more information please visit: www.castelnaugroup.com - Website: https://www.castelnaugroup.com/ - Location: London, England, United Kingdom - Lead qualification: Research: - Query: =Castelnau Group Ltd Richard Brown recent investments fund thesis - Answer: Castelnau Group secured a £65m loan from Shawbrook, and recently raised £56.6m through a new share issue. Richard Brown, CEO, highlighted the benefits of the loan for optimizing capital structure. The company continues to invest in small- to mid-cap private firms.