Jon Moulton

Jon Moulton (born 15 October 1950) is a British venture capitalist. He is the founder and managing partner of the private equity firm Better Capital, and is the former managing partner of the private equity firm Alchemy Partners. Moulton is best known for leading Alchemy Partners' bid to buy MG Rover from BMW in 2000, which ultimately lost out to a rival offer from the Phoenix Consortium.

Moulton is originally from Stoke-on-Trent, and suffered ill health at an early age due to the coal smoke in the area. He was educated at Hanley High School and Lancaster University, where he took a degree in chemistry. He then trained as a chartered accountant, and joined Coopers & Lybrand in 1972. He left in 1980 to join Citicorp Venture Capital, and became managing director in London. He was managing partner of Schroder Ventures from 1985 to 1994, and then did a spell at Apax Partners.

In 1997 he founded a new venture capital firm, Alchemy.

Moulton has earned a reputation for outspokenness. He has criticised attempts by private equity firms to deflect criticism. He has also spoken out against the favourable tax treatment of private equity. In July 2007, he gave evidence to a Treasury Select Committee of the House of Commons enquiring into the private equity industry, when he accused private equity firms of abusing a generous tax regime. Later that year he criticised the accountancy profession for a loss of integrity in due diligence work on private equity buyouts. Despite being an outspoken critic of offshore, Moulton has a residence in low-tax Guernsey in addition to a Guernsey-domiciled investment company.

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