Gresham completes four buyouts in six weeks

Gresham Private Equity has acquired financial training company 7city Group Ltd (7city) for an undisclosed sum. The enterprise value of 7city was understood to be less than £30m with Gresham investing mainly equity alongside a small debt package provided by Royal Bank of Scotland.

The deal represents Gresham's fourth buyout in six weeks following the £110m+ acquisition of toothpaste tube supplier Betts and that of West Cornwall Pasty Co, both in October. In early December it also led a £21m investment in Lancashire-based Hotter Shoes (see next issue).

Gresham was introduced to the 7city deal by Matlin Associates which conducted an auction process. Founded in 2000, 7city is a global training provider primarily serving financial institutions. It employs more than 110 staff based at its training centres in London and New York. A third centre is scheduled to open in Singapore in 2008.

Gresham was attracted to the company due to its record of fast growth and high quality service offering through an advanced IT platform. 7city had sales of £11.2m in 2006 with forecast turnover for 2007 of £17m+. New online product offerings and a scaling up of the company's New York office are expected to drive additional growth at the company. (Page 30).

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