Meet the Team
The Bay Tree team has a wealth of experience, having completed over 30 transactions from a combination of operating, investing and financing roles.
Companies we have previously worked with, both at Bay Tree and in previous roles
Ed Cottrell
Partner
Ed has worked with business leaders and entrepreneurs at medium-sized businesses since the early 2000s, providing finance, investment and advice to over 100 companies; including well-known brands such as James Villa Holidays, Graze, Ocean Outdoor, Fox’s Mints, Uswitch, and Snow & Rock.
He was involved in the launch of the Growth & Acquisition Finance business at Investec and its development into a leading provider of debt to UK medium-sized businesses. Ed went on to head the broader Corporate Lending area at Investec and took a lead role in the banks Graduate & Talent Development programme. He qualified as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG in South Africa and worked in corporate finance for Merrill Lynch and Investec.
He is married and lives in London, is a keen sportsman and theatre goer with a passion for travel.
Michael Simmonds
Partner
Michael has over 22 years’ experience investing in medium sized businesses in the UK. His investments include Gail’s, the artisan bakery, Cruise.co an online cruise-only travel agent, Comdirect a share trading platform, Datix a healthcare software provider and Neilson the activity holidays tour operator.
Michael graduated as a mechanical engineer before qualifying as a Chartered Accountant with PwC. His career began in corporate finance, before making the transition to principle, initially at LDC. For the last 11 years he has been investing alongside Luke Johnson at Risk Capital Partners for 11 years before joining Bay Tree.
He is a dedicated family man with twins at senior school, he is a veteran triathlete, a lifelong guitar beginner and still finds time to play 5-aside football.
David Wingfield
Partner
David has over 10 years of private equity investment experience gained at Rutland Partners, a mid market private equity business. He was a Partner at Rutland and led a number of complex deals.
He has extensive operational and investment experience in the UK mid-market having worked with many small & medium sized businesses, including Notemachine, Cedo and Pizza Hut UK.
He originally qualified as a chartered accountant with PwC, where he worked in London and Sydney. Prior to joining Rutland Partners, he worked at Close Brothers (now DC Advisory) where he advised on a number of mid market private equity deals.
He is married, is a keen golfer and cyclist with a passion for travel.
The team is augmented by highly experienced and networked advisory partners.