Steven Esom will join private equity firm Langholm Capital as a partner this week, The Grocer can reveal.
Esom, who was abruptly fired in July last year by M&S CEO Sir Stuart Rose after only 13 months as director of food, is now free to join Langholm under the terms of his M&S contract.
Sources said Esom would be responsible for the operational side of the companies in Langholm’s £250m portfolio, which currently includes Tyrrells as well as outdoor furniture, skincare and cleaning products companies.
Langholm, jointly owned by Unilever and Rabobank, made a killing when it sold Dorset Cereals last year to Wellness Foods for £50m after helping to expand sales of its luxury mueslis from £4m to £30m.
It also successfully floated one of its investments on the AIM. But its appetite for further aggressive investment was confirmed with the £30m acquisition of Tyrrells last May, as exclusively revealed in The Grocer in March, at a valuation of almost three times sales.
Langholm partners Bert Wiegman and Oliver Wyncoll are currently in the process of raising capital for a new fund, due to be completed later this year.
Esom, who earned more than £1.1m in his brief stint with M&S, will bring significant retail and consumer experience to bear on the post.
He is a former MD of Waitrose and also held senior positions at Sainsbury’s, Texas Homecare and Hilton Hotels.
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