The Team

Andrew Boyle

After graduating from Oxford University in 1985, Andrew joined the Capital Markets Division of Schroders, where he worked for 15 years in London and Tokyo. Upon the sale of Schroders’ investment banking business to Citigroup in 2000 he joined the Fixed Income Division of Citigroup Global Markets, where he was responsible for business with private banks and retail institutions. He left Citigroup and established LCF in 2005. He is Non-Executive Chairman of Apollo Venture Capital Trust, which is managed by Octopus Investments.

Jonathan Rivett-Carnac

After developing two entrepreneurial business ventures in South Korea, Jonathan returned to London in 1987 and joined the capital markets department of J. Henry Schroder Wagg. In 1989 he was posted to Schroders' Tokyo office for two years. Jonathan left Schroders in 1992 and moved to Brazil, where he was responsible for developing the international sales activities of Banco di Investimentos Garantia. This bank was purchased by Credit Suisse in 1999 and Jonathan returned to London with responsiblity for Latin American equity sales at CSFB. In 2001 Jonathan joined New Boathouse Capital, a corporate finance adviser, where he was responsible for capital raising for unquoted corporate clients. In 2005 he became a founding shareholder and director of LCF.

Richard Lesmoir-Gordon

After graduating from Cambridge University in 1975, Richard worked for Schroders for 16 years, in commercial banking and corporate finance. He concentrated on business in the Far East, Latin America and continental Europe, and his responsibilities included being co-head of Schroders’ capital markets & securities business in Japan. More recently he worked for the German bank WestLB for a period of 10 years, where he again concentrated on Asian business, being regional head of the bank’s Asian financial markets division and head of its Tokyo securities company. He has been a director of LCF since 2006.

Nicolas Smith

After graduating from Edinburgh University in 1983 Nicolas joined the capital markets department of J. Henry Schroder Wagg. Between 1988 and 1994 he was assigned to Schroders' Tokyo office, where he was responsible for the firm's structured products and private placements activities. Nicolas left Schroders in 1997 and established Bone, Smith and Bard Ltd ("BSB"), the activities of which include acting as a placement agent for a number of major private equity and hedge funds. In 2005 Nicolas became a founding shareholder and director of LCF while continuing his involvement in BSB.

Charles Breese, FCA


Charles has 25 years' experience of investing in start-up, early stage and listed smaller companies.  His focus has been on companies that harness technology to derive competitive advantage.  He worked for KPMG from 1969 until 1982. He joined Larpent Newton, a venture capital company, in 1982 and was appointed Managing Director in 1986. Charles is a director of Octopus Investments and of Hygea VCT plc.  The investment experience that Charles has gained through several economic cycles is the basis of the investment criteria shown in the section Raising Capital for your Company of this website.