ECI Partners

ECI Partners is a private equity group which celebrated its 40th anniversary in June 2016^[1] having been established by the Bank of England in 1976.^[2] It invests in small to medium-sized companies headquartered in the UK.

It organised its first management buyout for Ansafone in 1980 and was a founder member of the British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. In the first decade of ECI's investment they were active across a range of investments including syndicated transactions; early investments included Williams Holdings - owner of Chubb and Kidd - founded by Sir Nigel Rudd and Brian McGowan, and Shanks & McEwan.

From the start of the 1990s (ECI 4) the exclusive focus became UK mid-market buyouts investing in the likes of National Express Group and Bloomsbury Publishing.

The turn of the millennium saw ECI raise ECI 7 with leading growth investments including Thinkmoney and LateRooms.

In September 2014 it collected £500m, the tenth and largest fund in its 38-year history.^[3]

Fundraising began in early April 2014 with a target fund size of £400m and closed at the hard cap of £500m five months later, having been significantly oversubscribed. This made ECI the first private equity firm investing in UK-headquartered companies to raise a tenth buyout fund focused on the same strategy.

Recent investments include Edenhouse, IT Lab (IT Managed Services),^[4] Imagesound (a leading supplier of audio and screen media),^[5] and MPM (premium natural pet food company natural).^[6]

Other current investments include Tusker,^[7] Evans Cycles,^[8] Investis,^[9] ATG,^[10] Avantia, a leading online home insurance company that trades under the HomeProtect brand, and Great Rail Journeys.

Exits

ECI's most recent exit was announced at the end of June 2017 - the sale of Kelvin Hughes to Hensoldt, (formerly Airbus Defence Electronics), which generated a 3.3x return.^[11]

In February 2017 ECI announced the sale of Clarke Energy to Kohler Co.^[12]

The sale of Reed & Mackay ^[13] (premium corporate travel company) in August 2016 was ECI's 100th exit since 1990, and generated a multiple of 3.4x cost to investors.

In February 2016, ECI sold Citation, a provider of HR, employment law, and health & safety solutions to 16,000 SMEs, to HGCapital^[14] for a reported £185m.^[15]

In June 2015 it sold Fourth Hospitality, a restaurant management software firm to Insight Venture Partners.^[16]

In February 2015 ECI sold Wireless Logic, an M2M managed service provider, to CVC Capital Partners.^[17]

In October 2014 ECI sold XLN Telecom Ltd to the company's management and Blackstone’s credit business GSO Capital Partners generating a 3x return on its investment.^[18]

In February 2014 ECI sold M2 Digital to The Rigby Group through its technology brand SCC (Specialist Computer Centres).^[19]

ECI sold healthcare IT company Ascribe to AIM-listed clinical software supplier EMIS Health Group in September 2013 generating a 2.1x return.^[20]

ECI Growth Survey

The ECI Growth Survey^[21] is the only survey in the UK focused exclusively on growth companies. It was launched in 2010 to give owners and directors of growth companies an opportunity to voice their opinion and influence the economic debate. A number of influential figures have been involved in the survey over the years including Mark Prisk, Karan Bilimoria, Baron Bilimoria, Howard Davies (economist), Sir Danny Alexander, Carolyn Fairbairn and most recently Sir John Timpson (businessman).

References

External links

• ECI Partners