Portfolio
Our portfolio of investments has included the following companies:
Bennetts
Advantage Capital backed the MBO of Bennetts in November 2002. At that time Bennetts was one of the UK's largest independent personal lines insurance broking businesses, operating out of 30 branches.
Eleven months later Bennetts was sold to Cox Insurance Holdings plc, realising an almost 70% IRR for our fund.
Butters
This buy-out was completed in March 2007. Butters Group is the UK's market leader in the supply of house and garden plants to major retailers. Its customers include M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury, Waitrose, B&Q, Next and Interflora.
Charcol
Advantage Capital backed the MBO/MBI of Charcol in December 2004. Charcol is the UK's leading independent mortgage broker, arranging loans in excess of £3bn per annum, making it equivalent in size to a top three building society. Jon Moulton, head of Alchemy Partners, invested in the deal alongside Advantage Capital.
In May 2008 we sold our investment in Charcol at a profit.
Pagebet
This buy and build transaction was completed in February 2008. It involved Advantage Capital backing two betting industry serial entrepreneurs in the acceleration of their growth plans to build a chain of betting shops in excess of 100 within two years, thus becoming a top six player in the UK.
Q-matic
This buy-out was completed in July 2007. Q-matic is the world's leading provider of systems for queue and customer flow management, with revenues of £40m. It sells to more than 60 countries through its 10 subsidiaries and network of distributors. Its customer list includes some of the world's largest retailers, banks, healthcare providers and government agencies.
QM Group
Advantage Capital backed the MBO of QM Group in December 2004. QM is the UK's leading provider of queue management solutions. The group provides a range of systems, primarily to blue-chip retailers and high street banks. One of its earlier products was the "cashier number three, please" system, which it supplied to the Post Office. Today, its customer list includes Argos, Boots, Royal Bank of Scotland and Woolworths. To date over 4,000 systems have been installed, ranging from physical barriers/merchandisers to electronic (audio and visual) systems involving complex software.
In July 2007 QM Group was sold to a trade purchaser, realising a five times money multiple in only 30 months and generating an IRR of 94% for our fund.
Walbrook
Advantage Capital backed the MBO of Walbrook in December 2003. Walbrook had been the trust and company services arm of Deloitte in the Channel Islands and Isle of Man. It offers fiduciary and advisory services to private, corporate and institutional clients around the world, including trustee and investment management services, administration of companies, tax advisory and compliance services. The firm operates from offices in Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man.
In May 2007 Walbrook was sold to Barclays Bank plc, realising a three times money multiple and an IRR of 37% for our fund.