Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder’s private equity firm shutters

A private equity firm run by Hargreaves Lansdown co-founder Stephen Lansdown has shuttered.

Earth Capital, an early-stage growth investment manager, applied to cancel its authorisation with the Financial Conduct Authority on 1 August.

In an email seen by City A.M, the company told those invested in its Enterprise Investment Schemes: “The fund has now closed, Earth Capital UK has been deregulated and is no longer investment manager.”

The email also referenced a letter sent to investors on 11 August which confirmed the changes made to the fund.

Lansdown founded Earth Capital in 2008 along with City grandee Gordon Power in 2008, aiming to invest in clean technology solutions in the UK and Europe.

Lansdown and his wife Margaret stepped down from the firm as a person with significant control in May, Companies House filings revealed.

The asset manager had just £90,567 in assets at the end of last year, compared to £284,466 the year before, and had lost over £500,000 throughout the year, Investment Week reported.

The news comes as Lansdown has criticised the proposed private equity takeover of Hargreaves Lansdown, describing it as “not the greatest in the world”.

Hargreaves co-founded the investment platform with Peter Hargreaves and began trading from a bedroom in 1981. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2007.

While Hargreaves said he would be voting in favour of the deal, he said he was not “exceptionally happy” with it in an interview with The Times yesterday.

“Whether that price is the right price is questionable but it’s a fair price compared to what it was,” Lansdown said.

Lansdown currently holds 5.7 per cent of Hargreaves Lansdown’s stock, along with fellow co-founder Hargreaves, who owns 19.8 per cent of the company.

When the takeover was first recommended by Hargreaves Lansdown, 25.5 per cent of shareholders, mainly Hargreaves and Lansdown, gave irrevocable undertakings or signalled their intent to vote in favour.