Paul Franks

Paul Franks is a co-founder and Managing Partner of Beech Tree Private Equity, the UK lower mid-market private equity firm he set up with Andy Marsh in October 2014. Beech Tree focuses on technology, tech-enabled services, and financial services, investing £10m-£40m into fast-growing profitable businesses.

Before Beech Tree, Franks was Head of the Birmingham office of Gresham Private Equity and a member of the Gresham board. Beech Tree says he has been involved in corporate finance for 27 years.

Earlier in his career, Franks worked in PricewaterhouseCoopers' corporate finance department, advising on management buy-outs, public-to-private transactions, and development capital deals. He was also seconded to Bridgepoint Capital.

At Beech Tree, Franks leads the technology sector alongside Adam Rudd. The firm lists him as sitting on the boards of Ancoris/Telana, Performanta, and Fourteen IP.

• Beech Tree invests in fast-growing businesses that need capital and expertise to reach their full potential.
• The firm’s stated investment criteria are £1m-£5m EBITDA, £10m-£40m investment size, and 40%+ equity stake.
• Deal types include owner-manager cash-out, management buy-outs, acquisition funding for buy-and-build strategies, and expansion capital for organic growth.
• Sector focus is concentrated in technology, tech-enabled services, and financial services.
• In technology, Beech Tree looks for scalable business models, growing end markets, best-in-class products with a service wrap, strong gross margins, and ambitious teams that can grow organically or through acquisitions.
• Current technology sub-sector interests listed by Beech Tree include AI and automation specialists, B2B marketplaces, cloud managed services, Data-as-a-Service providers, remote working solutions, vertical SaaS, identity and access management, cybersecurity, and helpdesk/support solutions.
• Franks’ own framing of Beech Tree is founder-partnership led: he said working with "ambitious founders of high growth businesses" was a major reason for starting the firm.
• Beech Tree’s value-creation approach emphasizes sales and marketing investment, product/service extension, automation, international expansion, buy-and-build, portfolio cooperation, talent sourcing, and exit planning.