DUNEDIN BACKS £44 MILLION MANAGEMENT BUYOUT OF RED COMMERCE
UK business grown from humble beginnings to become a global success story, providing SAP experts to blue chip international businesses in 80 countries.
Dunedin, the mid market UK buyout house has acquired Red Commerce, a global supplier of SAP experts to international corporations and consultancies, in a £44 million buyout.
Dunedin has bought the company from the original founder Ezra Chapman and Inflexion, the private equity house that led a £15 million management buyout in 2005.
David Williams the director of Dunedin who will join the board of Red Commerce said: “The UK is a world leader in recruitment. Red Commerce occupies an attractive position within the global ERP software systems market with a high quality, diversified and loyal customer base. The business is exceedingly well placed to benefit from this growing international market.”
Red Commerce, which was founded in 2000, now has a global footprint with access to over 200,000 SAP experts in 80 countries, and offices in the UK, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Brazil. Clients include Bosch, Johnson & Johnson and Novartis. Included within the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 for three consecutive years, Red Commerce’s most recent reported profits were ahead of budget at £5.5 million EBITDA.
Named one of the best Small Companies to Work For in 2010 and 2011 by the Sunday Times Best 100, Red Commerce prides itself on outstanding customer service with an ability to access the best and most appropriate consultants to cutting edge SAP implementations, locally and globally.
Richard Vercesi the CEO of Red Commerce said: “A number of elements made Dunedin stand out in the tight deal process including a strong partnership approach, deliverability with their DebtBridging solution, a proven appetite and the expertise to help us to achieve our growth ambitions.
“Business growth will come by further enhancing relationships and services to our existing client base, new customer acquisitions, continued focus on service differentiation, strengthening our geographic footprint in existing markets by opening additional regional offices, expanding our international office network in line with SAP’s growth plans and the continued expansion of RedSolution, our SAP Advisory, Implementation and Enablement service”
SAP (Systems, Applications and Products in data processing) is the market leader in ERP software (Enterprise Resource Planning software), which helps companies of all sizes and industries operate more efficiently, including many of the world’s largest organisations. SAP is the global leader in this Business Applications market and continues to thrive through a combination of organic development and strategic acquisitions.
As well as building a very successful company, the management team is highly competitive and known for its sporting achievements including a gold medal for Britain in fencing at a Commonwealth Championship (Stephen Lawrence, COO); a semi-professional footballer (Richard Vercesi, CEO); a British League Championship and British Cup Winners medal in basketball (Alan Hunt, business development director); gold and silver medals in rowing at the Italian University Championships (Massimo Franzese, director of RedSolution); England Under 21 Rugby Internationalist (Andy Duke, director of Germany); national ranking in squash in France (Mat Roche, practice director for Permanent), University Champions in hockey (Nick Savage, practice director for Contract).
Dunedin, known for growing businesses on an international level, has backed global businesses such as WFEL the designer and manufacturer of mobile bridging systems and U-Pol, a world leader in automotive refinish products.
Also involved in leading the transaction for Dunedin were Giles Derry (director), Simon Rowan (investment manager) and Nick Hoare (investment manager).
Advisors
Advisory: Deloitte (Katie Folwell-Davies, James Oliver and Viki Mortimer)
Financial Due Diligence: Deloitte (Matt Everson, Sarah Sturt and Karlien Porre) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (Matthew Cross, Jonathan Tate, Brett Angel and Laurence Heath)
Commercial Due Diligence: CIL (Giles Petgrave) and LEK (Jeremy Wheatland, Andrew Allum and Fabio La Mola)
Lawyers for Dunedin and Newco: Dickson Minto (Ewan Gilchrist, John Pentland, Andrew Nicolson, Michelle McCabe, Kevin Cobb, Julie Brewster and Ryan Moore)
Management advisers: Wyvern Partners (Martin Kitcatt)
Management Lawyers: Berwin Leighton Paisner (Raymond McKeeve and Michael Weir)
Tax: Deloitte (Patrick Waldron, Robin James Thorn and Claire Webster)
Bank: HSBC (Andrew Mantle and Matt Marsh)
For further information, please contact Equity Dynamics:
Jane Kirby Direct Line: +44 (0) 203 468 0521/ Mobile: +44 (0) 7825 326 441
Emily Weston Direct Line: +44 (0) 203 468 0523/ Mobile: +44 (0) 7967 838 205
Dunedin (www.dunedin.com).
Dunedin provides equity finance for management buyouts and management buyins with a transaction size of £20 million – £75 million. It is an independent private equity house, owned by its directors and staff, operating throughout the UK from offices in Edinburgh and London.
In 2006, it raised a £250 million buyout fund that was significantly oversubscribed. It also manages the quoted private equity investment trust, Dunedin Enterprise Investment Trust PLC.
Since raising its latest fund, Dunedin, has made investments in Fernau, WFEL, Enrich, Formaplex, Hawksford, Weldex, U-Pol and CitySprint and has already successfully realised its investment in Fernau.
