Private capital, structured around you.
CKM³ invests in established businesses in the UK and internationally. We buy majority stakes, partner with founders who want to keep a share, take minority positions and back management buyouts. We are privately owned, not a fund, so each deal is shaped around the business rather than a fund's model. Where it helps, we bring in third-party funders to finance a transaction. Whatever the structure, the management team always owns a stake alongside us.
FY27 forecast, combined revenue and EBITDA of each business (100% basis).
The same deal can be done more than one way.
A private equity fund has a fund life and return targets to meet. A trade buyer usually wants all of the business and folds it into its own. We have neither constraint, so we can buy all of a business, half of it or a minority stake, and hold it for as long as it makes sense.
| CKM³ | Private equity fund | Trade buyer | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whose money | Our equity, alongside third-party funders | Investors in the fund | The buyer's balance sheet |
| Stake | Minority, partnership, majority or 100% | Usually a majority | Usually 100% |
| Holding period | Open-ended | Set by the life of the fund | Permanent |
| Your role afterwards | Your choice: stay, step back or sell later | Tied to the fund's exit plan | Absorbed into the buyer |
| Who decides | Our founder | An investment committee | A corporate approval chain |
| Management equity | Always, in every deal | Usually, tied to the exit | Rarely |
| Name and culture | Kept | Kept until exit | Often merged away |
Private, not a fund
No limited partners and no exit timetable. We invest our own equity and work with third-party funders to finance transactions.
Built around the deal
Cash at completion, loan notes and retained equity, in whatever mix fits. Management always hold equity, so they and CKM³ want the same outcome.
Quick decisions
Colm makes the investment decision himself. Transactions can complete within about six weeks of agreeing Heads of Terms.
Involved, not intrusive
We help with acquisitions, finance, governance and senior hires. The day-to-day running of the business stays with its management team.
Our investments
Established, cash-generative businesses in essential service sectors, each run by a management team that owns equity alongside us.
Aquila Energy GroupTech ProfessionalsMajorityTechnical contractors for offshore wind, subsea, oil and gas, and marine clients.2026
Oak Legal GroupLegal servicesBuy-and-buildBuy-and-build platform for regional UK law firms: Hedges Law and Perrin Myddelton so far.2024
AcastusWest Point ConstructionPartnershipCivils, groundworks and enabling works for residential-led developments.2024
Team ResourcingWorkforce solutionsMajoritySpecialist recruitment for the built environment and property sectors.2023
Auxo TalentWorkforce solutionsMinorityGlobal staffing and talent solutions. The rebranded MCG Group, in which a residual minority stake was kept on exit.
An operator who built a group from scratch.
Colm founded MCG Group in 2007 and built it from a start-up into a global recruitment and services business with more than 350 people and over £150m of revenue, through organic growth and acquisitions. He exited in 2023, keeping a residual minority stake in the business, now Auxo Talent.
He set up CKM³ to do the same again as a private investor. Since 2023 it has built a portfolio of 5 businesses with combined forecast revenue of c. £150m. Including the 5 transactions now at legal stage, that becomes 10 businesses with c. £650m of revenue and £20m+ of EBITDA.
What we look for
We assess every business on its own merits. These are the businesses we know best and the sizes we work in.
£1m to £10m EBITDA
- For a platform investment
- Smaller businesses as bolt-ons to a platform we own
- Profitable and cash-generative
- Workforce solutions and staffing
- Business and professional services
- Construction and infrastructure services
- Engineering and technical services
- UK and international
- Founder succession and retirement
- Partial or full exits
- Management buyouts and corporate carve-outs
- Growth and buy-and-build
Thinking about the next stage for your business?
Talk to Colm directly. Conversations are confidential and there is no obligation.