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Phones4U
Phones 4u was a large independent mobile phone retailer in the United Kingdom. It was part of the 4u Group based in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. Opening in 1996, it expanded to over 600 stores. On 14 September 2014, EE and Vodafone, the company's final remaining suppliers, ended their contracts. The company entered administration on 15 September 2014 with PricewaterhouseCoopers appointed as administrators. History In 1987, John Caudwell and his brother Brian founded ''Midlands Mobile Phones'', a wholesaler and distributor of mobile phones. The company became the Caudwell Group, whose high street retail arm was named Phones 4u. On 26 September 2006, The Caudwell Group was sold for a sum of £1.47 billion to private equity firms Providence Equity Partners and Doughty Hanson & Co. In February 2008, the group bought online retailer Dialaphone in a deal worth an estimated £9 million. In July 2010, Phones 4u partnered with electrical chain Dixons to place 49 concessi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Caudwell
John David Caudwell (born 7 October 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who founded the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a children's charity, and Caudwell LymeCo, promoting chronic Lyme disease beliefs in the UK. According to the '' Sunday Times Rich List'' in 2022, Caudwell is worth £1.58 billion. On the ''Forbes'' 2022 list of the world's billionaires, he was ranked #984 with a net worth of US$2.8 billion. Early life Caudwell was born in Birmingham but moved with his family as a baby to Stoke-on-Trent and raised in Wellesley Street in Shelton, Staffordshire, and with his brother Brian attended Shelton Church of England School, and then Berry Hill High School. His father had a stroke when Caudwell was 14 and died four years later. Caudwell abandoned his A-levels to become an apprentice at Michelin, and worked for several years there as an engineering foreman ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dial-a-Phone
Dialaphone (Dial-A-Phone, Dial A Phone) was an independent mobile phone retailer in the United Kingdom. It was established in February 1995 as a direct marketer and supplier of mobile phones and mobile phone accessories. The e-commerce website went online in September 2000. In 2008 it was acquired by Phones 4u who as of September 2014 collapsed into administration closing branches, online trading and call centres. History Dialaphone was founded in February 1995 by Jonathan Beck and Richard Frank with capital borrowed from Beck's father. While there was enough investment to fund telephone lines and recording equipment, the company had to carry out transactions without tracking software. Instead, Beck organised a system of trays and runners to keep track of orders during the company's early days. Initially, the business model relied entirely on direct phone calls generated from advertisements placed in the press, combined with efficient processing. Double page spreads in tab ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BC Partners
BC Partners is a British international investment firm with over $40 billion of assets under management across private equity, credit and real estate in Europe and North America. Its global headquarters are in London. The firm invests across all industries. BC Partners was founded in 1986 and has offices in New York, Paris, Milan and Hamburg. Since inception, BC Partners has completed 113 private equity investments in companies with a total enterprise value of €145 billion. As one of the largest European private equity firms, BC Partners competes for buyouts and investment opportunities with other large cap private equity firms including Blackstone Group, KKR, CVC Capital Partners, Advent International and The Carlyle Group. The firm raised its eighth fund in 2005, which at the time made it the largest European buyout fund. Raised in less than five months, the fund was heavily oversubscribed. Investors in previous funds supplied 90% of the capital. The firm's most recent fund ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oxford Street
Oxford Street is a major road in the City of Westminster in the West End of London, running from Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch via Oxford Circus. It is Europe's busiest shopping street, with around half a million daily visitors, and as of 2012 had approximately 300 shops. It is designated as part of the A40, a major road between London and Fishguard, though it is not signed as such, and traffic is regularly restricted to buses and taxis. The road was originally part of the Via Trinobantina, a Roman road between Essex and Hampshire via London. It was known as Tyburn Road through the Middle Ages when it was notorious for public hangings of prisoners at Tyburn Gallows. It became known as Oxford Road and then Oxford Street in the 18th century, and began to change from residential to commercial and retail use by the late 19th century, attracting street traders, confidence tricksters and prostitution. The first department stores in the UK opened in the early 20th century, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dixons Retail
Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest consumer electronics retailers in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the company operated Currys, Currys Digital, PC World (with stores increasingly dual branded 'Currys PC World'), Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow. Dixons Retail's Nordic and central European business was operated under the Elkjøp umbrella, and it also operated Kotsovolos in Greece. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index until its merger with Carphone Warehouse on 7 August 2014 to create Dixons Carphone. At the time of its merger in 2014, Dixons Retail had 530 outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland and 322 in Northern Europe. The company, formerly known as Dixons Group plc and later DSG International plc, specialised in selling mass market technology consumer electronics products, audio video equipment, PCs, small and large domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communication products and relate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Private Equity
In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a type of ownership of assets ( financial equity) and is a class of assets (debt securities and equity securities), which function as modes of financial management for operating private companies that are not publicly traded in a stock exchange. Private-equity capital is invested into a target company either by an investment management company (private equity firm), or by a venture capital fund, or by an angel investor; each category of investor has specific financial goals, management preferences, and investment strategies for profiting from their investments. Each category of investor provides working capital to the target company to finance the expansion of the company with the development of new products and services, the restructuring ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Providence Equity Partners
Providence Equity Partners L.L.C. is a specialist private equity firm, private equity investment firm focused on media, communications, education, technology investments across North America and Europe. The firm specializes in growth-oriented private equity investments and has invested in more than 170 companies globally since its inception in 1989. The firm manages funds with over $31 billion in aggregate private equity capital commitments, making it a large global player in the private equity industry. Providence was one of the principal pioneers of a sector-based approach to private equity investing. The firm's eighth fund, Providence Equity Partners VIII, closed on $6 billion in 2019, above its $5 billion target. The prior fund, Providence VII, closed with $5 billion in 2013. Providence is headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island with additional offices in New York City, New York, Boston, London and Atlanta. Operations The firm raises investment funds from a broad array of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doughty Hanson & Co
Doughty Hanson & Co is a British private equity fund manager focused on leveraged buyout and recapitalization transactions primarily of upper middle-market companies in Europe. The firm also invests opportunistically in European real estate and provides early-stage venture capital to technology companies. Doughty Hanson is headquartered in London and has offices in Frankfurt, Madrid, Milan, Munich, Paris and Stockholm. The firm which was founded in 1985 by Nigel Doughty, Chris Wallis and Richard Hanson is one of the oldest European buyout private equity firms. Since its inception, the firm has invested over €23 billion across more than 100 investments. On 4 February 2012, Doughty was found dead in the gymnasium of his Lincolnshire home. Then, on 10 August 2015, the firm announced the shut down of most of its European offices after abandoning its next round of funding. The offices closed in 2015 included Paris, Frankfurt, Madrid and Stockholm. In May 2017, the firm re-brande ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PC World (retailer)
PC World was a British retail chain of mass market computer megastores. Established in November 1991, it became part of Dixons Retail in February 1993, and then part of Dixons Carphone, after the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone Warehouse in August 2014. All of its physical shops in the United Kingdom traded under the combined "Currys PC World" brand, although this was retired in October 2021, after which point the company became known simply as “Currys”. History In November 1991, Vision Technology Group Ltd, led by Jan Murray, opened the first PC World shop in Purley Way, Croydon. In February 1993, when Dixons Group plc (now Dixons Carphone) purchased the chain, there were four PC World shops in existence. Jan Murray attained an annual turnover of £50 million by April 1992, after he had opened the four largest flagship stores around London. There followed a period of expansion, as more shops were opened across the country. This expansion was partly driven by a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones. Established as a bicycle retailer in 1927, Currys expanded the range of goods sold and from the 1960s became a major retailer of household electrical items. In 1984 the company was bought by rival retailer Dixons, and the Currys brand was used for all outlets of the combined company. From 2008, the business turned away from shops in town centres to larger out-of-town stores under the Currys PC World brand, combining the operations of Currys with Dixon's PC World under one roof; after the formation of Dixons Carphone in 2014, the stores gained Carphone Warehouse departments. It was announced in July 2021 that all Currys PC World stores would be rebranded to Currys. History Early years Henry Curry started to make bicycles in Leicester in 188 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vodafone UK
Vodafone UK is a British telecommunications services provider, and a part of Vodafone Group Plc, the world's second-largest mobile phone company. Vodafone is the third-largest mobile network operator in the United Kingdom, with 16.9 million subscribers as of November 2021, after EE and O2, followed by Three. Vodafone has been the longest running network in the country since its first cellular network call was made in January 1985. The company's current slogan since 2020 is “Together we can”, replacing the previous slogan "The future is exciting. Ready?". The current branding and logo was created in 2017. History Mobile network In 1981, Racal Electronics Group won its bid for the private sector UK Cellular licence, and created Racal Telecomms Division. The same year, Racal formed a joint venture with Millicom named 'Racal Vodafone'. The Vodafone name was first unveiled on 22 March 1984. Vodafone made the first ever cellular telephone call in the United Kingdom on 1 Jan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carphone Warehouse
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Carphone Warehouse Group with Dixons Retail. Prior to this merger, Carphone Warehouse Group was listed on the London Stock Exchange, and was a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. Following the closure of all stand-alone UK stores in April 2020, all remaining Carphone Warehouse UK outlets were within branches of Currys PC World. In April 2021, the Carphone Warehouse business in Ireland (including all stand-alone and co-located branches and the website) was closed with immediate effect. Currys continues to use the Carphone Warehouse brand in the United Kingdom, online and inside Currys stores. History Early years The company was co-founded in 1989 by Sir Charles Dunstone and Julian Brownlie, who put £6,000 into the company from their savings. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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