Lyceum celebrates 100th add-on investment
- Deal cements Lyceum’s place as a leading buy and build investor
- Majority of Lyceum’s investments in first two funds had four or more add-ons each
- Lyceum on track to complete add-ons for every company in Fund III
Lyceum Capital, the growth investor has completed its 100th add-on. Portfolio company Bellrock, the technology enabled property and facilities manager, has acquired four PFI contracts from Dawn Construction Limited. This follows last month’s acquisition of Global Data Systems (“GDS”) by Lyceum-backed Briefing Media.
Since its inception in 2000, Lyceum Capital has continued to make strategic add-on acquisitions to accelerate the growth of its portfolio businesses. In addition to customary consolidation of fragmented markets, Lyceum has consistently used M&A to add expertise and new service lines, as well as expanding presence in new geographies and sectors.
Working alongside its portfolio management teams, Lyceum helps identify, acquire and integrate businesses that provide a strong strategic fit. Management teams are able to draw on Lyceum’s first-hand experiences and proven best practices to acquire and integrate businesses effectively.
Recent examples include:
- Access Group, a B2B software provider, completed 18 add-ons to take full control of its distribution, add functionality and SaaS capability, and further penetrate key verticals.
- M&C Energy completed add-ons in the US, Hungary and Australia, transforming it from a European specialist into a global leader.
- National Britannia vastly extended its service offering through add-on acquisitions, to serve its blue-chip customers better and grow employee numbers from 270 to 770.
Commenting on the centenary, Jeremy Hand, Managing Partner at Lyceum said, “When we founded Lyceum, we built the business with the firm conviction that we would add significant value as growth investors through innovation, internationalisation and consolidation. Using buy and build has helped accelerate these strategies for some of the UK’s most exciting companies, especially in the technology-enabled B2B space.”
Chris Bayne, Chief Executive of Access, added: “With the expert support of Lyceum, we were quickly able to build a commanding position in the market, combining strong organic growth with strategic acquisitions that helped transform our customer proposition.”