Recycling Lives, refreshing a business

Rainmakers meets Adrian Murphy and Nick Gittings with big ideas for private equity backed Recycling Lives Services

Hello Rainmakers,

This week’s second long read comes to you at the start of a journey that we’d like to return to over the next few months.

We caught up with Adrian Murphy and Nick Gittings as they’re getting to grips with Recycling Lives Services, a private equity backed business that’s been through some trauma, but is bursting with potential.

They told me that they’re coming in to this opportunity with “all our experience, all our scars, all our war wounds,” but they know too that they can build something special. 

It’s exciting for the honesty with which they spoke about their ambitions. Hope you enjoy it.

FROM THE UMBRIAN HILLS TO THE SCRAPYARDS OF PRESTON

It’s a long way from the rolling rural hills of Italy to the scrapyards of Preston, Lancashire.

But the story of Recycling Lives is a fascinating one, with more ups and downs than the undulating Umbrian landscape.

Why so poetic? Though best known for its social purpose as a socially focused enterprise where ex-offenders and people experiencing homelessness find work on their network of recycling sites, since 2018 Recycling Lives was first invested in by Three Hills Capital, an elegantly branded private equity fund management business with offices in London’s Soho Square, Milan, Luxembourg and New York.

The “three hills”, after which the business is named, are existing hills in the ancient region of Umbria (often called Italy’s green heart, or il cuore verde d’Italia) with strong traditions of craftsmanship and culture.

As is well known now, private equity investment businesses have been shifting the balance of their portfolio to reflect more businesses that demonstrate social value. And so it came to pass that Recycling Lives sat alongside other businesses in the €3bn Three Hills portfolio such as Twentyfour Seven Group (an Iberian production services company, working with blue chip global brands such as Adidas and Nike) and Sabatino Tartufi (US-based truffle and truffle-products manufacturer). 

By any measure it’s proved a challenging investment for Three Hills. Which is why Rainmakers is sitting with two impressive business executives, Adrian Murphy (above, left) and Nick Gittings (right), who have rolled up their sleeves to take on the challenge of sorting the business out.

Murphy, tall and lean with the hint of a Midlands accent, was brought in by Three Hills in January 2024. He knows how private equity deals work, he also has strong operational experience of delivering value.