Bowmark, Rothschild sell Autodata to Solera for £340m

The sale represents a return for Bowmark Capital Partners V, which closed on its £350m hard-cap in January 2014.

During the three-year holding period, Autodata has expanded via an acquisitive growth strategy, bolting on businesses in France, Sweden and Finland. The business has also invested in its online platform and increased its customer base in Europe and Australia, according to a statement issued by the GPs.

The sale is the latest in an ongoing wave of high-profile exits from UK-based portfolio companies to international buyers. It comes less than a month after Cinven sold web services provider Host Europe Group to trade buyer GoDaddy for €1.69bn; a fortnight after Epiris and Alchemy Partners sold holiday park operator Parkdean Resorts to Canada-based private equity house Onex for £1.35bn; and during the same week Graphite Capital sold Micheldever Tyre Services to Sumitomo Rubber Industries for £215m.

The sale of Autodata to Solera is expected to receive regulatory approval in February 2017.

Previous funding
Bowmark and Rothschild acquired Autodata in a £143m deal in May 2014.

Company
Founded in 1975, Maidenhead-headquartered Autodata provides the automotive market with technical information related to cars, motorcycles and light commercial vehicles. It provides information on 40,000 vehicle models from 136 manufacturers, enabling technicians and mechanics to diagnose issues, as well as carry out services and repairs.

According to publicly available records, Autodata generated a turnover of £25.5m in the year ending November 2015, with an operating profit of £10.5m.

People
Bowmark Capital – Julian Masters (partner).
Five Arrows Principal Investments – Javed Khan (co-managing partner).
Autodata – Rod Williams (CEO).
Solera – Tony Aquila (chairperson, CEO).

• Tweet  
• Facebook  
• LinkedIn  
• Google plus  
• Send to  

• Topics
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Support services
• United Kingdom
• Bowmark Capital LLP
• Rothschild
• Trade sale