LDC backs MBO of Enterprise Ventures-backed ChargePoint

LDC has acquired a minority stake in the business as part of the deal, which was led by ChargePoint managing director Chris Eccles and sales director Tony O'Sullivan.

The transaction marks a full exit for Enterprise Ventures just three years after its original investment.

Under its new ownership model, the company will look to undertake an international expansion strategy, with a particular focus on increasing sales in the North American market. The business will also look to make bolt-on acquisitions in order to expand into new, closely related sectors.

As part of the deal, former Penn Pharma CEO Richard Yarwood has also been appointed as non-executive chairperson of ChargePoint. Penn Pharma is a former LDC portfolio company that the GP sold to Packaging Coordinators for £127m, reaping almost 3x its original investment. LDC's Ged Gould and Chris Wright will also take seats on the ChargePoint board.

The transaction marks LDC's first investment of 2017 and the fourth investment in nine months made by its Manchester office. The Manchester team's previous deal  was the £20m investment in HR software company Mitrefinch.

The deal also marks the third exit by Enterprise Ventures Growth Fund in the space of three months, following the sale of its stake in tattoo and piercing business Barber of Sheffield to RJD Partners and its partial exit from Woodall Nicholson as part of a BGF funding round.

Debt
Crescent Capital Group provided debt facilities to support the transaction, a spokesperson for LDC told unquote".

Previous funding
Enterprise Ventures invested £1.6m in ChargePoint via its Coalfields Funds and North West Fund for Mezzanine in October 2013. The capital was structured as a mixture of debt and equity.

Company
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Speke, near Liverpool, ChargePoint manufactures and distributes high-performance containment valves and sterile transfer valves for the pharmaceutical, biotech and chemical sectors. The business has a headcount of 60 and has additional operations across Europe, Asia and North America.

In the financial year ending December 2015, ChargePoint generated a turnover of £8.1m with EBITDA of £2.3m, according to publicly available records. According to a statement issued by LDC, the business reached its record EBITDA in 2016, while turnover during the year increased by 100% compared to the £5.6m generated in 2013.

People
LDC – Ged Gould (director); Chris Wright (investment director).
ChargePoint Technology – Chris Eccles (managing director).

Advisers
Equity – GCA Altium, Simon Lord, Adam Sivner (corporate finance); Addleshaw Goddard, Paul Medlicott, Katie Simpson (legal); Deloitte (financial due diligence); PMSI (commercial due diligence).
Company – Clearwater International, Paul Jones, Michael Loudon (corporate finance); Ward Hadaway, Sean Fitzgerald (legal).

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• Topics
• Buyouts
• Exits
• UK / Ireland
• Industrials
• United Kingdom
• Enterprise Ventures
• LDC