Equity Ventures Limited

Venture Capital - Management Buy-Outs - Acquisitions

"Turning managers into owners"

Equity Ventures is a venture capital firm with offices in London and Cheltenham and with associates in France and Germany. 

We are interested in UK and European management teams keen to buy companies with annual sales in excess of £5 million. We are also interested in companies wishing to acquire or dispose of businesses or divisions with annual sales in excess of £5 million.

We manage one fund whose investors include HSBC and the European Investment Fund. We also co-invest or syndicate as appropriate to the transaction.

You can approach us with just an idea for a transaction; an executive summary; or a full business plan. We'll come back to you pretty quickly if we're interested. If we can't help you we will try and introduce you to someone who can.

If you would like to know more about venture capital and how to buy a company then please call David Tallboys on 020 7665 6611; or e-mail david@equityventures.co.uk; or write to Equity Ventures at 23 Berkeley Square, London  W1J 6HE.

 

What is a company worth? 
The Equity Ventures MBO model is a useful tool which has been used to value and structure many MBOs and takeovers. It shows how the future exit value will be shared between the management team and the venture capitalists. Try it online now. Just enter a few summary numbers and projections, or see how small changes to profit or exit multiples affect the example given which is based on a real transaction.  Try our MBO valuation model online now   

 

Equity Ventures Limited
23 Berkeley Square
London  W1J 6HE
Tel: 020 7665 6611

E-mail: Equity Ventures Limited

Equity Ventures Limited is authorised by the Financial Services Authority

Equity Ventures - The Directors

David M. Tallboys 
David Tallboys graduated from the LSE with a BSc Honours degree in Economics and International Relations. He also gained a Masters degree in Business Analysis at Lancaster University in after which he worked with Price Waterhouse in London for two years before going to Bahrain with Ernst & Young. This was followed by two years in South America working mostly in Rio de Janeiro for BIAS, a Brazilian consultancy firm with whom he structured one of the first MBOs in Brazil.

Following a year as a customer services manager in the Granada Group, he joined Kleinwort Benson in London working with its corporate banking group involved in lending to management buy-outs. He joined Schroder Ventures where he was involved in structuring large buy-outs for both quoted and unquoted companies. Later he started working for Security Pacific Hoare Govett Equity Ventures and was involved in extensive re-negotiations and assessment of new deals on its behalf prior to Equity Ventures doing its own buy-out since when it has been independent with David Tallboys as an MD and joint shareholder   

Robert M. Lindemann 
Robert Lindemann is a US citizen who has lived in Europe most of his life and speaks fluent French as well as a number of other European languages. After graduating from Christ Church, Oxford with an Honours degree in Politics Philosophy and Economics, he worked for the First National Bank of Boston in London before attending INSEAD. He worked as a management consultant with Ernst & Young and subsequently as a private consultant advising industrial companies.

After spending two years with the Mergers and Acquisitions group of Security Pacific Bank he moved to Hoare Govett having worked on the acquisition by Security Pacific of its 30% stake in Hoare Govett, the first example of a foreign firm investing in a member of The Stock Exchange. He was Senior Vice President of Hoare Govett Incorporated, latterly with specific responsibility for Europe, and was instrumental in forming Security Pacific Hoare Govett Equity Ventures, which he joined as a Director and he was directly involved in all its investment activity before arranging the buy-out of Equity Ventures itself of which he is an MD and joint shareholder.

A sample of institutions that have worked with the Equity Ventures team:

Alchemy, Apax Partners, Bridgepoint Capital, CinVen, Barclays Capital,
Prudential Ventures, 3i, Saudi International, Charterhouse, Citicorp Venture Capital, Mercury, Hg, Permira, Schroder Ventures, Graphite, Phoenix Fund Managers, CWB Capital Partners, Hambro European Ventures, Causeway Capital, ECI Ventures, Brown Shipley, Lloyds Development Capital, Bankers Trust, Legal & General Ventures, Candover, Baring Capital Investors, Chase Manhattan, Elders Finance, National Westminster Bank, Montagu Private Equity, Deutsche Kleinwort, Electra, Intermediate Capital, Henderson, SifCorp, Mezzanine Management, Aberdeen Murray Johnstone, Doughty Hanson, HSBC Private Equity.
 
 

Equity Ventures is authorised by the Financial Services Authority

Equity Ventures - track record

Deals where Equity Ventures directors have been investors

Clares Equipment (£29m MBO, Lead investor) MBO from Guinness PLC.
Compass Group (£160m MBO, Syndicate investor) Exited from by flotation at 41.5% IRR.
Associated Fresh Foods (£68m MBO, Joint underwriter) Exit by sale at 41.8% IRR.
UNS Holdings (£27m MBO, Syndicate investor) 270 retail news shops.
Venture Plant (£11m MBO, Joint underwriter) Machinery and plant hire group.
RHP bearings (£72m MBI, Syndicate investor) Exited from by sale at an IRR of 131.1%.
York Trailer (£60m MBO, Syndicate investor) Manufacturer of trailers in UK and Italy.
Vickers Furniture (£40m MBO, Lead manager) Exited from by sale at 121.5% IRR.
Admiral Homes (£75m start-up, Syndicate investor) Builder of homes in south-east England.
SG Industries (£68m MBI, Syndicate investor) Specialist steel products in UK and USA.
London Clubs (£120m MBO, Joint underwriter) Gaming operations, exit by flotation.
VCI (£91m MBO, Joint underwriter) Exit by flotation.

Sheffield Forgemasters (£42m MBO, Lead Investor) Buy-out from British Steel.
Textilion (£5m MBI, Lead Investor) Exit by sale to Hollas Group.
Goldsmiths Group (£44m MBO, Lead investor) Exit by flotation.
Glass Glover (£66m MBO, Lead investor) Exit by sale to Unigate.
Aynsley Group (£18m MBO, Syndicate bank) Buy-out from Waterford Wedgwood.

IRG Odgers Ray & Berndtson (£2m MBI, lead investor, exit at 32.5% IRR plus retained stake).

Goldcrest Homes (£1m expansion capital, exit at 25% IRR)

Baynflax (£2m MBI)

Zoggs (£3m expansion capital, investor) Distributor of fashion swimwear and goggles in the UK and overseas. 

 

Deals where Equity Ventures directors have been corporate finance advisers

Hargreaves - MBO
We arranged MBO finance for this £80m turnover UK company which is primarily involved in moving coal from ports to power stations and waste handling. The deal size was £20m and we helped management achieve an 80% shareholding. The company floated on AiM and has a market capitalisation of over £100m.

Aspect - MBI
We successfully completed a management buy-in of two international language school businesses in the UK and USA by raising US$25m from Warburg Pincus who we selected having also generated competing offers from Advent, Alchemy, ECI, Graphite, and Mercury.

Cammell Laird MBO
We worked with a management team and got £8m of venture capital for the MBO bid for Cammell Laird's ship repair yards.

Spink
We worked with a management team and got £7m of finance for the MBI bid for Spink's Coins, Medals and Stamps in a divestment from Christies.

Bohlin Instruments Group - MBO/MBI
Equity Ventures advised the management and secured venture capital and bank finance for the £1m  MBO/MBI of this scientific instruments group with operating companies in the UK, US, and Germany. Bohlin was formerly owned by Bowthorpe plc. We recently helped the company and management team exit by sale to Malvern Instruments.

Go Plant - MBO
Equity Ventures arranged the deal, advised the management and secured £4m of finance for the MBO of the leading UK road sweeping equipment hire company. Go Plant was formerly owned by AAH plc and by Tarmac plc. Exit by private sale at an IRR in excess of 30%.

Rank Hotels - MBI
Securing £75m offers of finance for the proposed MBI of the hotel division of The Rank Organisation plc.

VCI plc
Assisted company in selecting sponsors for its £60m GBP flotation.

Exhibition Company - MBO/MBI
Assisted in the selection of a lead investor for this potential £30m UK/US transaction.

Lands End - MBO
Obtained offers of finance for the potential MBO of this well known leisure company.

Goldcrest Homes - Development Capital
Obtained offer of finance for this specialist house builder. We also made a VCT investment in the company.

Anagen plc
Advised company management on discussions with venture capitalists and preparation of the business plan for potential flotation sponsors of this bio-technology company.

Equity Ventures - How to raise venture capital
 
 

Questions:

Thinking about a management buy-out?

How do you make the first approach?

What is the business worth?

How much should you pay?

What percentage of the company will you get?

How much money must you personally invest?

Answer:

Tell us about yourself, and about the industry, sales, and profits of the business you would like to buy and who owns it now.  We will tell you if we think there is a good chance of you getting a deal. If we think it is a really good opportunity we will arrange to meet with you as soon as possible.

Equity Ventures Limited
23 Berkeley Square
London  W1J 6HE
Tel: 020 7665 6611

E-mail: Equity Ventures Limited