ECI Partners is a growth focused private equity group based in the UK and the US, first established by the
Bank of England in 1976.
ECI typically invests up to £100m of equity (as part of an initial transaction) in businesses valued at up to £300m
It was a founder member of the
British Private Equity and Venture Capital Association in 1983 having organised its first management buyout (for
Ansafone) in 1980. 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
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
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
and
Bloomsbury Publishing
Bloomsbury Publishing plc is a British worldwide publishing house of fiction and non-fiction. It is a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index. Bloomsbury's head office is located in Bloomsbury, an area of the London Borough of Camden. It has ...
.
The turn of the millennium saw ECI raise ECI 7 with leading growth investments including
Thinkmoney and
LateRooms.
In July 2018 ECI announced the first and final closing of its eleventh buyout fund, ECI 11. ECI launched the fundraise mid-April 2018 with a target fund size of £650m and closed at the hard cap of £700m less than three months later. ECI 11 was raised without using any placement agent support.
Investments
Investments have included CIPHR, Mobysoft, CSL, KB Associates, Peoplesafe, Travel Chapter, Moneypenny, 4Ways, Arkessa, The Clear Group, Bionic, Content+Cloud, Imagesound (a leading supplier of audio and screen media), Tusker, Investis Digital, Auction Technology Group, and Avantia, a leading online home insurance company that trades under the HomeProtect brand.
Exits
In September 2022, ECI realised its investment in MiQ, delivering a 6.1x return in a deal valued at a reported $900m. ECI originally backed the founders (Gurman Hundal and Lee Puri) in a minority investment in 2017 with MiQ growing to $45m of profit in the year before ECI exited.
in June 2022, ECI sold The Clear Group, an insurance broking platform, to Goldman Sachs Asset Management having tripled Gross Written Premium to over £330m during the four year investment.
In November 2020, ECI exited MPM generating a return of 4.4x.
In February 2020, ECI exited both Encore Tickets, sold to
TodayTix and Auction Technology Group, in a secondary buyout delivering 3.7x money.
ECI exited mthree in December 2019, selling to
Wiley (publisher)
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in ...
and generating a return of over 100% IRR.
In June 2018 ECI announced the sale of
Great Rail Journeys
Great Rail Journeys, based in York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buil ...
, generating a 3.6x return.
In June 2017 ECI sold
Kelvin Hughes
Hensoldt UK, formerly Kelvin Hughes, is a British company specialising in the design and manufacture of navigation and surveillance systems and a supplier of navigational data to both the commercial marine and government marketplace.
The company ...
to
Hensoldt
Hensoldt AG ''(HENSOLDT)'' is a multinational corporation headquartered in Germany which focuses on sensor technologies for protection and surveillance missions in the defence, security and aerospace sectors. The main product areas are radar, opt ...
, (formerly Airbus Defence Electronics), which generated a 3.3x return.
In February 2017 ECI announced the sale of
Clarke Energy to
Kohler Co
Kohler Co., founded in 1873 by John Michael Kohler, is an American manufacturing company based in Kohler, Wisconsin. Kohler is best known for its plumbing products, but the company also manufactures furniture, cabinetry, tile, engines, and ...
for a reported £300m
The sale of Reed & Mackay (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 for a reported £185m. generating a 5.4x return on its investment.
In June 2015 it sold Fourth Hospitality, a
restaurant management software firm to
Insight Venture Partners
Insight Partners (previously Insight Venture Partners) is an American venture capital and private equity firm based in New York City. The firm invests in growth-stage technology, software and Internet businesses.
History
Insight Partners was fo ...
.
In February 2015 ECI sold Wireless Logic, an M2M managed service provider, to
CVC Capital Partners
CVC Capital Partners is a Luxembourg-based French private equity and investment advisory firm with approximately US$133 billion of assets under management and approximately €157 billion in secured commitments since inception across American, E ...
generating 6.1x money return.
In October 2014 ECI sold
XLN Telecom to the company's management and Blackstone's credit business GSO Capital Partners generating a 3x return on its investment.
In March 2014 ECI sold CarTrawler to
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 ...
for a reported €450m, returning 6x money to investors.
In February 2014 ECI sold M2 Digital to The Rigby Group through its technology brand
SCC (Specialist Computer Centres)
The Rigby Group is the parent company of several privately owned businesses operating across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.
In 2013 the company was ranked 13th in the ''The Sunday Times, Sunday Times''’ Top Track 100 listing of the ...
.
ECI sold healthcare IT company Ascribe to AIM-listed clinical software supplier
EMIS Health Group in September 2013 generating a 2.1x return.
ECI Growth Survey
The ECI Growth Survey 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, Sir
Danny Alexander,
Carolyn Fairbairn
Dame Carolyn Julie Fairbairn DBE (born 13 December 1960) is a British businesswoman, former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry and a former non-executive director of the Competition and Markets Authority, Lloyds Banking G ...
, Sir
John Timpson
John Harry Robert Timpson, (2 July 1928 – 19 November 2005) was a British journalist, best known as a radio presenter.
Early life
Born at Ridgeholme, 53 The Ridgeway, Kenton, Middlesex, he was educated at Merchant Taylors' School, a boys' ...
, and most recently Philip Shaw, Chief Economist at Investec.
References
{{reflist
External links
ECI Partners
Private equity firms of the United Kingdom
1976 establishments in England