LDC’s Manchester Team Completes Four Transactions in a Month

Busy four weeks sees Manchester office complete one new investment and three exits

The Manchester office of LDC, the UK’s leading mid-market private house, has completed four transactions in a month, as it continues to demonstrate its commitment to supporting ambitious business leaders across the North West.

The team has welcomed Ellesmere Port-headquartered Rhino Products, Europe’s leading manufacturer of light commercial vehicle accessories, to its portfolio. The partnership will see LDC support the management team’s ambitious buy and build strategy as well as continued international expansion.

The business has also completed three successful exits from its Manchester office. Firstly, the team exited workforce management software specialist Mitrefinch to Advanced, following a four-year partnership that invested in technology to help transform the business into a market leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) player. Mitrefinch doubled its revenue to £24million and increased employee numbers by 64 per cent between 2016 and 2020.

In late-October, LDC announced the exit of its investment in employment specialist Ellis Whittam to Marlowe plc. The deal marked the end of a four-year partnership that saw the Cheshire-based business accelerate organic growth and cement its status as a leader in high-quality subscription-based compliance services.

Finally, LDC exited its minority stake in Giacom, the specialist cloud services marketplace, to Digital Wholesale Solutions. LDC had been invested in Giacom since 2016, exiting and reinvesting in 2017 as minority shareholder.

The four transactions follow what has already been a busy year for LDC in Manchester, as the team continued to back the growth plans of its wider portfolio. This includes leading marcomms agency MSQ Partners, which secured £6million of follow on funding to support its £20.6million acquisition of the Be Heard Partnership in September, and the exit of Fishawack Health in April, following an ambitious buy and build strategy which saw the firm triple annual revenues and extend across North America.

Dale Alderson, Head of the North West for LDC, said: “This year has been one of unprecedented challenge for North West businesses, and the work of our team is testament to our commitment to support the region’s ambitious business leaders.

“As an established member of the North West private equity community, we’ve been through ups and downs before and we know the importance of experience and flexibility. In uncertain times, management teams need long-term partnership to build scale and resilience, and that’s why we are here.”

2020 marks LDC’s 20^th year in Manchester. In that time, it has backed more than 65 businesses, investing more than £325million of capital in the last five years alone.

Nationally, LDC is committed to investing £1.2billion in high-growth firms across the country over the next three years, with the North West remaining a core focus.